


A Lust For Poison, An Assassin's Tail

by johnny_topside



Series: Karin Frost-Fang [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Attempted Murder, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Drug-Induced Sex, F/F, F/M, Gen, Gratuitous Smut, Lesbian Character, Minor Character Death, Multi, Murder, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Other, Psychological Trauma, Rape, Seduction, Sexual Assault, Snuff, Swearing, Torture, Ultra Hardcore, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 10:44:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 68,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12252747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnny_topside/pseuds/johnny_topside
Summary: A twisted female assassin with a secret technique signs on for a hitjob with Maven Black-Briar, but it's the daughter Ingun who finds herself in her perverted sights.  Lots of crime, sex, blood and guts, and hurtful adult words.





	1. Bunking With Haelga

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Assault, Petty Theft, Sexual Assault

Chapter 1: Bunking With Haelga  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Such a wicked vicious woman,  
Black magic voodoo queen  
Les-bo nymphomaniac,  
Ooh, she's got a girlfriend that is seventeen - W.A.S.P._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Wait, where's your toll?"  
  
"Toll?" Asked the ill dressed woman. She wore faded grey clothing that had been cut and mended in so many ways it scarely resembled the blue dress it must have been at one point. It looked like something a merchant's guard might wear, except for the ominous rust colored stains on it's folded sleeves. It's hem had been cut short and slit down the middle and stopped above her bare knees. Her clothes were filthy with road dust and the straight black hair that fell around her bandana and over one eye was greasy and unwashed. Her mouth curled in perpetual imitation of a smile, but the effect was more chilling than friendly.  
  
  
  
"You have to pay a toll if you want to enter Riften."  
  
  
  
"You're wasting your time Erick, this streetrat doesn't have two Septim to rub together, just look at her. Hey, if you can't pay the toll, get out of here. We have enough beggars in Riften." The guard was big and he had half a foot on her, but when he leaned in for emphasis he wished he hadn't. She looked and smelled like she had crawled out of some crack in Hell and as he got a better look at her under her hair it was clear she wasn't altogether there. Her narrow, sleepy eyes were glassy and unfocused and looked through rather than at him. "Hey, are you on something?"  
  
  
  
"Not yet. Although I gotta say, talking with you isn't exactly stimulating me." It was hard to tell from her voice whether she was joking or it was the earnest sincerity of a hardcore skooma addict.  
  
  
  
"Well maybe a beating'll stimulate you. Get lost!"  
  
  
  
"Was that a come on? I'm tired, I got business in Riften, are you going to let me through or not?"  
  
  
  
"You come up with that toll?"  
  
  
  
"Maybe she can pay us some other way." The other guard mused and his partner just shook his head. Erick hadn't caught a whiff of her yet.  
  
  
  
"Not even after a bath. I'd be afraid I'd pick something up from her." The guards loudly guffawed and the woman continued to smile serenely.  
  
  
  
"I'd love to stand here and yap with you mutts but I'm here to see Maven Black-Briar. I was invited. If there's a toll I'm sure she'll be happy to pay it." She said in a pleasantly dazed monotone. The guards looked at eachother and then burst out laughing again.  
  
  
  
"That's quality. They fished the last guy who tried to buy a drink on Maven's tab out of the lake and you think she'll pay your way?" The woman flipped her hair out of her eye and chuckled along with them. The deranged sound was low and rich and cruel like tinkling ice shards and continued after they'd both stopped. The guard put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Alright, enough fun. This is your last warning little girl."  
  
  
  
"Check with Maven. I'll wait. Unless you want to let me through right now."  
  
  
  
"Get lost!" The guard took three heavy steps towards her and as he loomed over her the woman moved slick as oil and then she was against him with her hand stuck down his pants. He yelped, backing up as fast as his feet could take him but she kept up and then she had him back against the wall. She leaned in, a kiss away, examining his sweating neck, and he could see her eyes were shiny and gleeful. How had he thought they were glassy before? She wasn't just fully awake, she was tweaked. The other guard laughed.  
  
  
  
"Well look at you, high and mighty, talking about how you wouldn't have any."  
  
  
  
"Erick." The guard said evenly, watching her black pupils jig like a mad dog's. "This woman is holding a knife to my balls." She had the small razor between thumb and finger pressed against his flesh and gave him the grin of someone pulling legs off a fly. Her other arm was draped against his neck like a small python full of coiled muscle. Erick drew his sword and she pressed the edge a little closer and gave his friend's man parts a little nick. One slash and jerk and the guard would be missing his equipment, she'd done it before.  
  
  
  
"You'd better calm right the hell down." She said to the other guard jovially. "You wouldn't want me getting nervous. Right?" She slid the blade down for emphasis and the guard winced. "Oh c'mon, I barely broke the skin. I just want to talk, we can do that right?" The guard nodded and she took a tiny bit of pressure off. "Good, now clean your ears out. I'm here at Maven's request, and if I don't show up because of some shit for brains guard, losing your balls will be the least of your worries. The name is Karin. So why don't you go check it?"  
  
  
  
"Go check it Erick, hurry up!" He tried to shrink away from her but he was out of room and she gave him the blade again causing him to sharply pull in his breath, as well as the rest of himself.  
  
  
  
"Yeah, you go do that. My friend and I are just going to wait patienty for you to come back, alone, because if anyone else comes with you, I'm going to feed the birds his cock." He was alone with the madwoman for about four agonizing minutes, but they seemed to drag on for eternity for the gate guard while Karin held him in that threatening embrace, her eyes twitching above the frozen smile. She seemed to be enjoying herself, and it felt like any moment the hand would follow those eyes and then he could forget about pissing standing up.  
  
  
  
"So, how's your day been?" Her smile trembled at the edges like she had a joke she couldn't wait to tell. He didn't want to give her any excuses so he said nothing and a moment later Erick finally came back with Maven's right hand man. Maul eyed the scene distastefully and Karin flashed him her thin sabre slash smile.  
  
  
  
"Well, he's not another guard I guess." Her blade traced a playful figure 8 against the guard's scrotum and he closed his eyes and wished for the day to be over.  
  
  
  
"You're Karin from Markarth?" He sounded surprised and she saw his eyes flick to the guards briefly, wary of what she might say.  
  
  
  
"That's me. I'm just here about exterminating a skeever for Maven." Maul seemed to relax and Karin turned and winked at her guard. "It's a big one. The skeever I mean."  
  
  
  
"She's good. Sorry for the trouble, let's keep this between us alright?" It was less a question than an order and Karin nodded good-naturedly and slipped her hand out.  
  
  
  
"Are we friends again?" She asked sweetly, batting her lashes.  
  
  
  
"You'll get yours you crazy bitch." The guard muttered.  
  
  
  
"I'm not crazy, I just don't give a fuck!" She chuckled and he watched the filthy creature follow Maul through the gate into Riften, wondering if he could drop her in a ditch somewhere without Maven finding out.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"I heard you dropped my name at the gate. That won't happen again. I want to keep our association to a minimum." It was the coldly condescending voice of a schoolmarm scolding a slow infant, and Karin found herself fantasising about playing with her blood in the first two minutes of meeting Maven Black-Briar.  
  
  
  
She was an elegant older woman with dark brown hair with only a few odd silver strands, maybe late 40's but she could have been even older, she was very well maintained. Her cheekbones were sharp enough to hone a knife on and she had a small, mean little mouth that looked like she was sucking on a lemon. Her voice had that nauseatingly cultured, unflappable quality that made Karin want to give her some breathing holes where nature never intended. One of those infuriating, superior people that never lost their cool that she couldn't stand, but she needed the money.  
  
  
  
"Well not to sound whiny but I tried being nice. Those bastards tried to shake me down and I couldn't afford it. I wouldn't have got through the gate and you'd have to get someone else."  
  
  
  
"You do sound whiny. An assassin who has trouble with a few guards and shows up on my doorstep looking like she rolled around in horse dung? How is that my problem?" She wrinkled her nose and Karin merely continued to smile like she was listening to a favorite aunt. Inside, she was thinking about third nostrils. "I only had Maul let you through because it would be slightly less convenient for me to find someone else. If there's any ball cutting, I'll be the one ordering it. Are we clear?"  
  
  
  
"Crystal." Karin's demented grin was mask like, unmoving.  
  
  
  
"I told them to bring me a professional, but the Dark Brotherhood has been unforgivably slow to respond. The words 'too busy' shouldn't be in an assassin's vocabulary, don't you agree?"  
  
  
  
"Absolutely." Maven was one of those bitches who liked the sound of her own voice once she'd deigned to speak to you, so Karin resigned herself to a long wait.  
  
  
  
"Apparently I'm not discrete enough or know the handshake or whatever it is it takes to keep a hired killer from running off like a spooked little child. It's a business transaction, nothing complex about it. The only discussion should be method and price. So, I wasn't able to get a professional this time and they told me you were someone who killed for money. Not exactly the same thing I see now. They didn't tell me though that you were so..."  
  
  
  
"Pretty?" Maven's lemon sucking mouth chewed on itself and Maul winced. Guess now she knew who had dropped her name to Maven, poor Maul.  
  
  
  
"Crude. I'm having serious second thoughts." Karin produced a long, thin stiletto and walked it along her hand as if she was doing a coin trick. It made a twirling circuit from finger to finger, span in her palm, then passed fluidly to her other hand and did the same thing.  
  
  
  
"Very entertaining, but I'm not auditioning street performers." Karin looked around the room.  
  
  
  
"Do you like animals?" She flipped the stiletto in the air, caught it, then threw it at a stuffed elk head across the room. The blade impaled itself in one of the the mounted thing's staring eyes. Lucky. Usually she could only nail that kind of shot blind drunk. She'd lost a bet doing that once and had to go down on another woman, but she hadn't been trying hard that time. "It's real simple. If you want to make someone dead, pay me and I'll make them dead. That's all I do, I don't care if you don't want me over for tea." Maven seemed about ready to say something cutting, maybe cry about her poor put upon elk head, but then her face relaxed.  
  
  
  
"I suppose you'll have to do. The job is for 5000 septim, and I need someone dealt with in Mistveil Keep."  
  
  
  
"How soon you want it done?"  
  
  
  
"It doesn't have to be immediately, but the sooner the better. I'd like it done by the end of the week."  
  
  
  
"Right, so who's the corpse?""  
  
  
  
"The Jarl." Karin blinked twice and laughed. "Is that a problem?"  
  
"No, not a problem at all. I'm just laughing at the pay."  
  
  
  
"I don't like your attitude. 5000 is what I'll pay an individual with your...reputation." Karin continued to smile but her doll's eyes glittered. She was curious if Maven really had the balls to elaborate. Would she mention the ear-less Mer corpses she left? Not that she was racist or anything, she just thought the ears were pretty. Or the fact that nobody dared send female bounty hunters after her anymore because of what she did to them? "Does Braun the Hammer ring a bell?" Karin sighed in disappointment.  
  
  
  
"Oh that one. My employer didn't care about specifics, it wasn't my fault his family were light sleepers." She remembered that blood bath, once you started stabbing, it was just hard to stop sometimes, red heart juice on the floor so thick and slick she had to replace her shoes after. "I can be discrete, if that's what you want, but there's nobody nowhere who will do a job like this for less than 10000."  
  
  
  
"You will, because you're a loser who doesn't look like she has a septim to her name, and because without my protection the guards would tear you apart." Karin's grin stretched even wider, and she felt her fingers tense as the older woman stared her down like she was a bug. Maul inched closer to his boss, sensing the tension between them. Finally, Karin sighed and blew a string of hair out of her face. 5000 was better than nothing, she needed the money, not another bounty on her head.  
  
  
  
"Well if you're going to sweet talk me like that Maven I guess 5000 is just fine after all."  
  
  
  
"Good." Maven said icily. "The Jarl is Laila Law-Giver, a useful idiot up till now, but now I need her out of the way. It's well known that she hates skooma dealers, the story will be she angered the wrong ones."  
  
  
  
"You have any skooma?" Karin asked hopefully and Maven's eyes narrowed. "You know, so I can make it look authentic? I could dose her with some skooma, paint the walls with her blood, send a message, something like that."  
  
  
  
"No." She dropped the word like a hammer. "You leave that side of it to me, all I want from you is the Jarl's dead body. The cleaner the better. Any mistakes and I will feed you to the wolves. Now if that's all..." Unbelievably, Maven turned and started walking away and Karin cleared her throat. "What is it now?"  
  
  
  
"My money." Maven raised an eyebrow and looked at Maul who only looked embarrassed, but not by Karin this time she thought.  
  
  
  
"You get your money after you kill the Jarl. What don't you understand about that?" She said it slowly like she was talking to a small child.  
  
  
  
"Half up front, it's tradition, it's set in stone." Karin said, imitating Maven's high handed tone. Maven's eye twitched and for the first time she looked pissed. Maul stepped between them quickly.  
  
  
  
"Let's just take a breath here." He eyed the two of them, like a man stepping between two snakes.  
  
  
  
"The gall of this gutter trash." Maven breathed. "The Guilds never ask for an advance, they know I always pay my dues and they're professional enough to not darken my doorstop like some kind of diseased beggar." She pointed a finger at Karin's chest who had the overwhelming urge to break it off for her. "  
  
  
  
"Yeah, well I'm not in the Guilds. I thought you had money and you had done this sort of thing before." Maven's face twitched again, and she turned her withering look on her right hand man.  
  
  
  
"Maven, she's right. It is traditional. She's new." Maven's look could have melted steel but Maul maintained his stoic expression. Karin might not have been professional, but there was a basic etiquette to hiring a killer, and this wasn't it.  
  
  
  
"Alright. 1000 septim up front, 4000 to finish the job."  
  
  
  
"2500. It's tradition."  
  
  
  
"You're not the only assassin who can do this job. I AM Riften, and I'll set the traditions around here."  
  
  
  
"Well Mrs Riften, don't haggle with me like I'm the gardener, it's really insulting ya know that? Nobody'll do this job for what you're asking except maybe some skooma heads who will get pinched right at the gate, think how much money you'll save doing things that way. Also, I know who you mean to hit now."  
  
  
  
"You filthy little tramp." She marveled. "I should have you killed for even thinking of blackmailing me!"  
  
  
  
"Which would cost even more money. It's not blackmail, think of it as insurance. Maybe you think you can squeeze me because I'm desperate for money, and I already took the job for 5 instead of 10. But I need clean clothes so I don't stand out when I case the hall, I need new blades, I need money for bribes, I need money to eat. My gears had it." Karin looked at Maul who had his hand inconspicuously at his belt but seemed to be the reasonable one. "Help me out here Maul."  
  
  
  
"It's your call Maven. She gets the job done, and it would be more trouble than it's worth to get rid of her. How about 1000, and 500 for expenses up front." He furrowed his brow at Maven's glare. "I'll keep track of it and make sure she doesn't spend it on ale. Would you agree to that Karin?"  
  
  
  
"Sure." Actually she thought the deal was awful bordering on insulting, but the alternative was she whack them both at this point just to blow off all the steam from the bullshit they'd put her through.  
  
  
  
"Maven?" His boss was silent for a few seconds and then her face resumed it's cold haughtiness  
  
  
  
"Not a septim more till the job is done, and it will be done to my satisfaction. I'm so tired of this, Maul, you take care of it." When they were outside the hall again, Maul immediately turned and grabbed Karin roughly by her arm, and in returned she smiled absently up into the big, bearded bastard's face.  
  
  
  
"I don't have any words for how stupid that was to talk to Maven that way. Don't do that to me again or I'll kill you myself."  
  
  
  
"Hey, I don't know what you heard, but I don't kill people out of the goodness of my heart. No advance? What were you thinking?"  
  
  
  
"I didn't know she'd do that." He muttered apologetically. "She may be dead wrong but it's not like I can take your side. Come on downstairs and we'll write up a letter of credit." She followed his lumbering shoulders to the dining room where he left her for only a minute, twice the time she needed to palm some of the better silverware and trinkets in the room. When he came back with his letter, Karin's grin was broader than ever. Just a little bit of supplementary pay.  
  
  
  
"Come on Maul, let's go spend that money, it's already burning a hole in my pocket."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Karin walked out of the salon with her black hair washed and her face cleaned, a dull purple lipstick and eye shadow of the same color on making her look much more feminine. She looked almost pretty except for the ever present grin, or at least presentable. She'd only bought the one blue dress to replace her old rags, she'd already butchered the sleeves and the hem to move easier and turned the remnants into a new bandana. Maul looked her up and down and then wrote down the items on his list with that ever present glower.  
  
  
  
"So there's a woman under all that shit, who knew. Why'd you buy a dress if you're going to cut it up like that? Why not get some armor?"  
  
  
  
"Armor's for morons who let themselves get hit."  
  
  
  
"And you of all people needed makeup? Really?"  
  
  
  
"It was 10 septim."  
  
  
  
"And you think you need...nevermind. You do need it." He wrote it down. "You've run through 100 already. When you run out, everything else comes out of your pocket. Come on, what next?"  
  
  
  
"Need some new knives, you can never have enough knives. Then the alchemists and I guess we're done." Maul's grimace deepened considerably at that.  
  
  
  
"What do you need at the alchemists?" He asked, and Karin heard an undercurrent of unease in his gravelly voice.  
  
  
  
"Just alchemical ingredients, nothing unusual about that is there?"  
  
  
  
"No, no, I just wanted to make sure these are just expenses like I told Maven. Don't want you cooking skooma or something. Do you really need to go there?"  
  
  
  
"Yes Maul, I really, really need to go there. I always use potions. You ever heard of the Jovin brothers? I killed all five of them flying on joy juice." She puffed out her chest proudly.  
  
  
  
"All five? What's in this potion of yours?"  
  
  
  
"Ah, nothing that would interest you much. C'mon, let's go." Riften was like a city built on top of another city, down the stone stairs was the canal that flowed through town. Outside of the sign Elgrim's Elixirs blended in with the other homes set in the stonework on the lower level. It was bigger than it looked from the outside as Karin stepped in and heard the steady clack of a pestle and mortar in the back and smelled bitter herbs. She drummed her fingers at the empty counter and checked out the ingredients, calculating what was worth stealing as she waited. Strangely, Maul had seemed to debate whether to go in with her or not, he didn't seem like the skittish type but it was obvious something about this place made him hesitant.  
  
  
  
"Hey? Anybody alive here?"  
  
  
  
"Just one minute!" A young woman said, and then she came out from behind the large partition in back carrying a small rabbit. It's nose wiggled as the woman stroked it's fur and then placed it carefully in a metal box. "Come on Arna, don't bite." She cooed, then poured a few drops of liquid in and closed the box lid before walking back to the counter.  
  
  
  
"Hello, what can I do for you?"  
  
  
  
"Hi. Uh, my name is Karin." She offered, her mind momentarily going blank. What had she come in for? The woman was the most alluring creature Karin had ever set eyes on. It was hard to say what it was exactly, she was a little younger than her, with dark brown hair braided at the sides and smooth skin that glowed with health, but it was her lips and eyes that captured her attention. Under perfect arched eyebrows, pure hazel eyes with the thickest, darkest lashes and those pink, succulent lips, my god. They looked they could suck the orihalcum right off a-  
  
  
  
"Oh, I'm Ingun, pleased to meet you. Now, what can I do for you?" There was a violent crashing from behind her and the metal box shook heavily on the table, actually bounced, from inside came hideous screeching and then the movement and sound stopped abruptly. "26 seconds." The woman nodded to herself as if making a mental note.  
  
  
  
"So what's, uh...what's going on back there?"  
  
  
  
"Just an experiment." Ingun smiled pleasantly, coming back to Earth. "So, we seem to keep going in circles, what was it you needed again?"  
  
  
  
"Here." Karin passed her the hand written list.  
  
  
  
"Let's see, Jazbay berries, Blistwort, Creeper clusters, Glow Dust, Histcarp..." Karin watched the tantalizing mouth form each word with a fascination that bordered on obsession. It was almost like a peep show, it was just a crime that Ingun was wearing thick, fine clothes, fur lined against the chill that hid almost every inch of her body. The face was gorgeous and she was dying to know if the body matched. She let her eyes rover over what curves she could see, she was leaning over the counter on her elbow to get a better view, practically in her personal space when Ingun looked back up from the list. Karin backed off just a bit before smiling too widely. Most people would have shrunk away, but Ingun only gave her the calm, disconnected little smile of her own.  
  
  
  
"We're out of Deathbell unfortunately, and, hmmm. Emperor Parasol Moss. I've never heard of that one." The way Ingun talked was a little disconcerting, like she was there but she wasn't there, but Karin decided it was cute in it's way.  
  
  
  
"I can live without the Deathbell, but I gotta have the moss.  
  
  
  
"I'll have to talk to master Elgrim." She went back behind the counter and Karin watched her ass sway appreciably as she went on her way. This had been the best part of a shitty day so far. She heard them talking in the back and shook her head to clear the foolish leer she'd formed on her face. Ingun came back with an old, withered codger who squinted at Karin without any real interest. "He'll help you. Well, back to my research."  
  
  
  
"Hope it goes well." Karin called, flashing Ingun another smile, who gave her a little nod back, seemingly already off in her own world again.  
  
  
  
"Well?" The old man asked harshly. "My apprentice tells me you're looking for Emperor Parasol Moss. How much?"  
  
  
  
"Maybe half a pound?"  
  
  
  
"700 septim." Karin's grin slid off her face like rain off a pane of glass, but the old man just stood there impassively. The credit would cover the ingredients she was buying now, but she'd have to pay for the skooma she'd need on her own septim, she'd also need a place to stay and something to eat.  
  
  
  
"That's outrageous!" The old man blinked a few times, furrowing his brow like a monkey.  
  
  
  
"It's not cheap, is it. Not alot of demand for it. Has to come all the way from Morrowwind. If you don't like it, can't help you, you'll have to go somewhere else.  
  
  
  
"I need it in a hurry. Do you have any here?" He squinted at her again, now a little suspiciously.  
  
  
  
"I can order some..." He said carefully and Karin struggled not to jerk him across his counter. No, no, she'd figure out a way to find the moss somewhere, or get more money anyway, he was the only alchemist in town.  
  
  
  
"I guess that's ok for now. Just give me everything else on the list." She shoved Maul's letter of credit at him.  
  
  
  
"Friend of Maven's eh. Well I suppose I can do her another favor, as if taking on Ingun wasn't enough." Karin's leer reemerged, and she winked at the old man.  
  
  
  
"Oh come on. A hot little thing like that? Who wouldn't 'take her on'? C'mon, just between you and me, how is she in the sack?"  
  
  
  
"Young lady, I think you should leave." Elgrim was flushing so hard he was turning purple, guess she hit a sore spot.  
  
  
  
"Letter." Karin said sweetly, tapping the paper.  
  
  
  
"I want you to know I don't like you and I wouldn't do business with you if I could help it. And you can forget about that Emperor moss." He wheezed now and then as he went about grudgingly filling the order, jamming each ingredient into the sack forcefully as if he was force feeding it to Karin. "She's an attractive young lady, but she's my apprentice, and I've never had any interest except in nurturing her talent!" He grumbled, finishing up. She wanted to throttle the old goat but instead she gave Elgrim another broad grin.  
  
  
  
"Thanks. I'll be back for that moss later ok?"  
  
  
  
"Damned urchins. I'm nurturing her talent!" Karin heard him mutter on her way out. When she was out the door Maul took a quick look in the sack and then took the letter back.  
  
  
  
"That's it then, Maven won't pay anything else till the job's done."  
  
  
  
"So why so nervous Maul? Shy around that gorgeous piece in there?" Maul had been watching the door like he was waiting for someone else to come out, and his eyes snapped back to Karin.  
  
  
  
"Who do you mean?"  
  
  
  
"The old fart, who do you think, the girl in there, the hot minx." His expression clouded over, if he'd looked surly before this was something else. "Hey, no need to be embarassed. So she works for Maven?"  
  
"She's Maven's daughter." He said darkly and Karin's grin slipped again. What an idiot she was! The eyebrows were different but now she could see it, they even wore their hair kinda the same. Still, was it any wonder she'd missed her daughter's resemblance? They were different as night and day, Maven wound up tight enough to snap with that icy control and Ingun seemed warm if impersonal. Still, she thought, maybe Ingun wouldn't be so impersonal once they got better acquainted...and getting to know her boss's daughter might have other "benefits".  
  
  
  
"Stay away from her." Maul said and Karin pulled back the dirty expression that had been emerging on her face. "You'll bring an unending rain of shit down on your head from me if you even think of hurting Ingun or using her against Maven. That's not going to be a problem though, because you're going to do your job and leave."  
  
  
  
"That's right, that's all I'm here for. I'm real sorry for speaking out of turn Maul. I didn't know she was yours."  
  
  
  
"It's-it's not like that!" He sputtered, then pointed a finger at her. "You've been warned, I'll be keeping an eye on you. Get it done."  
  
  
  
"Hey, where I can stay for the night?"  
  
  
  
"Bee and Barb, or Haelga's Bunkhouse. Or sleep in the street for all I care."  
  
  
  
She watched the broad back go, he looked back twice distrustfully, but Karin just stood with her small, secretive smile until he was out of sight. She looked back at Elgrims, she wanted nothing more than to go back in and start working on Ingun, but she had to find a place to stay for the night. She'd planned to just kill Lady Fuckaduck for that bitch Maven and get out of this shit hole and go back west, but now maybe there was a reason to stick around a little longer she thought, licking her lips.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Maven stiffing her had really complicated things. Money wasn't tight yet, but the skooma was going to eat up most of the money and in the meantime who knew what else would go wrong. So she tried the bunkhouse, which looked to be low rent. Various scruffy types that looked about her income level sat around a table eating their dinner, some of them obviously drunk or high. Yeah, she thought she'd fit in here just fine. The woman behind the counter was tall, about 30, with pale blue eyes and blonde hair that spilled over the shoulders of her blue dress and apron. She was leaning over the counter, talking and laughing with a man, and it was clear from their body language they were flirting. She was no Ingun, but she wasn't bad looking at all Karin thought, full lips, nicely built body, bigger tits than hers probably. The woman caught Ingun looking and her nice smile abruptly became a scowl that was a close second to anything Maven's could do. She exchanged a wary glance with the man who tipped his hat and left in a hurry.  
  
  
  
"What do you want here?" She asked as unfriendly as possible, putting emphasis on the "you".  
  
  
  
"New in town, looking for a room tonight."  
  
  
  
"Well try the Bee and Barb, we're full up here." Karin looked around, it seemed like there was plenty of room.  
  
  
  
"Maybe I could speak to the owner?"  
  
  
  
"I'm Haelga, this is my bunkhouse, I decide who can stay. This place is for the working man, not for whatever stray comes scratching at the door."  
  
  
  
"Look, I can pay-"  
  
  
  
"Then go to the Bee and Barb!" She said shrilly and turned to yell at the harried looking maid. "Svana! Clean those windows too!"  
  
  
  
"I already did!"  
  
  
  
"No, use water and soap, don't just wipe them!  
  
  
  
"But I cleaned them just yesterday and-"  
  
  
  
"Don't back talk! I'd send you back to Honorhall if I could!"  
  
  
  
"Yes aunt Haelga..." The woman sighed like it was the end of the world before shuffling off. Karin waited with mounting impatience, but Haelga ignored her, scribbling in her accounts book.  
  
  
  
"So, the thing is, I can pay, but not much, and I was hoping-"  
  
  
  
"Are you still here?" Riften was really full of assholes for such a small place Karin thought, usually she had to talk at least a few minutes before people starting giving her that tone.  
  
  
  
"Obviously."  
  
  
  
"Well now you see my problem, so stop bothering me. Bee and Barb is right up the street." As Karin leaned in she got a good look at the woman's bust, but when her eyes flicked up, she was smiling widely again at her scowl.  
  
  
  
"Well thanks so much aunt Haelga."  
  
  
  
"Bitch." The maid Svana came back with a heavy bucket of water and began to wring out a rag and Karin sidled over to her as inconspicuously as possible.  
  
  
  
"Hey there."  
  
  
  
"Hey." The niece might not have been bad under other circumstances and Karin had low standards but she thought she'd have to take a pass. Svana looked how she felt, with bags under her eyes that seemed to take up half her face, red eyes and such a dejected look of defeat on her face she looked ready to keel over any second.  
  
  
  
"So it sounded like your aunt was maybe going to let me stay, but with her attitude I'm kinda rethinking the whole thing."  
  
  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry. Please don't mind my aunt, she's that way with everybody."  
  
  
  
"Not guys I see." Karin said, looking around. Haelga had her nose buried in her book, seemingly having already forgotten her, and as Karin watched she walked up the stairs.  
  
  
  
"Yes, well, between us my aunt is disgusting, the way she throws herself at anything with a pair of balls. She even gives out these Dibellan marks to her conquests."  
  
  
  
"Oh really? Well I've talked to her all of a couple minutes and it seems to me she needs to be taken down a few pegs."  
  
  
  
"Exactly! The way she acts all the time and in the meantime she's rutting around in backrooms" Svana's dreary face momentarily lit up. "Hey, you know, if you got me some of those marks she gives out, I could confront her with them, I'd love to watch her squirm!"  
  
  
  
"Sounds like a plan, mind if I look around a little?" Karin slyly followed Svana's nervous glance up the stairs, but her aunt was still busy doing whatever she was doing.  
  
  
  
"Just be quick." Svana turned and made a show of having her back to Karin as she scrubbed the windows and nobody downstairs seemed to be paying attention so she took that as her cue.  
  
  
  
Haelga's bedroom was small and unkempt, on the nightstand was a golden statue of Dibella with it's breasts bared. Karin rubbed her thumb over the two bumps appreciatively, thinking of pocketing it but it was too big to be carried inconspicuously, so instead she began to help herself to whatever small knick knacks could be found. She went through Haelga drawers busily, humming under her breath. The top drawers yielded eight septim, a silver ring and two decent dresses which Karin promptly folded up into her bag. The bottom drawer was very interesting and Karin caught herself making the rookie mistake of examining it instead of just grabbing everything. Leather straps, some racy novels, a pair of scandalously lacy underwear, and a pair of pins that Karin eventually divined were nipple clamps. At least, she hoped they were for nipples. The honey and the shackles on the bed were making alot more sense now. The straps and the underwear went into her bag, and then she pulled out the dildo. She wasn't even sure what it was at first, turning it this way and that, thinking maybe it was some kind of fancy paperweight. It was a horker tusk, ivory and polished to incredible smoothness. The curve and round knobs on each end left little doubt what it was intended for. She ran her hand down it's shaft, curious, testing the thickness.  
  
  
  
"What are you doing going through my things?" She looked up to see Haelga standing in the door, her face flushed with anger. Karin turned and let her see what was in her hand and Haelga's mouth became an O of horror. Was that the shape her mouth made when she used her party favors?  
  
  
  
"Why you dirty slut, I didn't figure you for the type. Can you explain this to me?"  
  
  
  
"I don't-I don't know what that is! Probably something of my niece's! Where did you get it?"  
  
  
  
"Oh dear, your dresser. This piece here is especially disgusting, I love it. Is it for you or the guys? Hey, you might want to close the door." Haelga checked behind her guiltily and then quickly closed the door and bolted it. When she spoke her voice was low.  
  
  
  
"I could have you arrested you ratty little bitch! I want you out of here now!"  
  
  
  
"You could, but then I'd have to tell anybody who will listen about the stuff in your dresser. Maybe do it in limerick." Haelga cringed and Karin's grin widened. Someone as dishonest about her perversions as Haelga was wouldn't say shit if she had a mouthful.  
  
  
  
"I don't want you here for one more second. Just leave, I don't want any trouble."  
  
  
  
"How do you use it?" Karin asked, stroking the ivory member's head. "Do you suck on it a little first before you put it in?"  
  
  
  
"You're sick! Just-just give it back."  
  
  
  
"Here you go." She held the shaft out and as soon as Haelga's fingers began to curl around it Karin's other hand wrapped around her wrist quick as a striking cobra. She jerked and the blonde pitched forward, off balance, into Karin's parted, waiting lips. Haelga had just enough time for a small yelp before Karin's tongue was between them. She kissed her forcefully, using her weight and slid her other hand around Haelga's waist. Her lips were still closed, but the tip of her tongue was making headway. Panicked, she tried to break away but Karin had her in a vice-like grip, and while Haelga wasted time trying to escape Karin slipped her hand down across the soft backside to the opening between the bunkhouse owner's legs. She pressed against the cloth, questing fingertips searching for the crevice. Haega wasn't going anywhere now and when she realized that she'd stop fighting her. Ah, there! Karin's two fingers found the spot and began a soft and steady rhythm, stroking and pressing her button in circles with her fingertip and Haelga gasped loudly against her mouth and then trembled.  
  
  
  
Now she tried to jerk her head away, maybe to scream for help but Karin grabbed Haelga's cheeks together in her hand and forced her to look right at her. Her mouth was self assured and the smug eyes roved her neck and cleavage before rising to meet the startled eyes. Something in them held her gaze and Karin kissed her again with total confidence. This time Haelga's struggles were weak, her mouth didn't fight so much as submit and she felt the smallest flicker of her tongue in response. She moved her hand down and under the bunkhouse owner's neckline and felt one of her big tits. She wanted to squeeze, but she had a ways to go on this one so instead she slipped her hand around and underneath, massaging the soft globe. Haelga broke the kiss, leaving a delicate string of saliva between their wet lips and backed away into the wall, she was flushed and she had the look of animal, an animal that was getting ready to bolt...or lose control.  
  
  
  
"How dare you touch me you whore! Who do you think I-no don't come any closer!" Karin leaned against the wall with her hands above Haelga's shoulders, her face looming inches away from hers. "No, please don't do this."  
  
  
  
"Do what?"  
  
  
  
"If you want money from me you're wasting time." Her voice was unsteady, and she turned her head away and closed her eyes and Karin blew on her ear, causing her to shudder.  
  
  
  
"You think I can't tell from this shit pile of yours?" She gestured at Haelga's room before leaning in till their foreheads were touching. "I've had a really long day, what I want is some release."  
  
  
  
"Some relea-no! Leave me alone!"  
  
  
  
"You thought I was kidding before? I'm going to make you forget your own name." She kissed Haelga's neck, licking down it's length before giving her a soft bite and Haelga sobbed.  
  
  
  
"No, I can't. I don't want you! We shouldn't be doing this!"  
  
  
  
"What an awful act, do men buy this? You worship Dibella huh? Well maybe Dibella thinks it's time you try something new." She was thrashing, trying to escape the kiss, so Karin used her free hand to trace down the stomach and slipped it between the blonde's legs.  
  
  
  
"I'm not that kind of, uh, ha, girl!"  
  
  
  
"No, I've got your number. You're the village horse, everybodys had a ride!" Now Haelga opened her eyes and glared at her, her face was flush with anger as well, Karin thought it was sexy and doubled the pace with her fingers. Once she got under her clothes, Haelga was finished.  
  
  
  
"Those are my private affairs!"  
  
  
  
"I'm not judging, I'm a bit of a pervert myself. Your private affairs are your private affairs, this can stay between us too." She lifted the woman's dress, her slim fingers navigating Haelga's skimpy panties before making their way to the soft folds of her pussy and Haelga gasped. "If you're nice to me. Your lips down here seem ready for my kiss." Karin caressed the labia, rubbing her fingertips skillfully between the crease before penetrating Haelga up to her second knuckle. She wiggled the finger around, exploring and enjoying the familiar sensation of the moist walls.  
  
  
  
"I'm not...into...women!" Haelga gasped and Karin increased her pace and began to corkscrew her finger faster into Haelga's pussy. "Oh! S-stop!"  
  
  
  
"Look at all your toys. You've tried everything else, you're going to pass me up?" She roughly tore the dress off Haelga's chest and grinned at her shock, but her eyes were already closing again, her body starting to move itself to Karin's fingering. She slipped in her ring finger as well and began to alternate and Haelga shuddered and leaned against her as Karin fondled the big tan breasts, playing with them in her hands and watching the flesh ripple. "You've got alot in the way of toys." Karin breathed, before taking the erect pink nipple between her teeth and sucking on it until it became a point. "I just want to play too." Undoing her clothes, Karin pressed her own breasts against Haelga's, letting them mold together, before tracing circles on the other woman's nipples with the hard tips of her own and tweaking them together with her fingers. Haelga's eyes were closed, and she was making small animal like sounds.  
  
  
  
"I only sleep with men!" She cried, but the fight had gone out of her, and to prove it Karin gave her another deep kiss, and this time the tongue met and slithered over hers, intertwining.  
  
  
  
"I'll be all the man you need."  
  
  
  
"You don't have a cock!"  
  
  
  
"Who needs one when I've got my tongue, my hands, my tits, and...this!" She held the horker tusk up to Haelga's eyes who turned even redder and her eyes slid to the side in embarrassment. Someone with as much experience as her and Karin was going to be the teacher? She licked her lips in anticipation even as Haelga sank down further onto her squirming fingers.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Aunt Haelga? Are you in there?" There was a knock at the door but Karin paid it no mind. Her head was between Haelga's long legs, her tongue lapping and snaking inside her hot loins.  
  
  
  
"Ah! Don't stop! My god your tongue is so soft and long!" She crooned, running her hands through Karin's jet black hair and whispering words of encouragement as she devoured the other woman.  
  
  
  
"Aunt Haelga? Are you alright?" The knock again and Karin rolled her eyes before nibbling on the pink bud above the hood of Haelga's entrance, enjoying her resulting shudder. She was blonde all over.  
  
  
  
"Y-yes! Yes!"" She cried out and Karin took the opportunity to squeeze the shapely summits of her breasts. Haelga arched her back, grinding her thighs down into Karin's face and she heard footsteps walking away.  
  
  
  
"Well, let me know if you need anything..."  
  
  
  
She smirked then gave Haelga a quick, fluttering lick, causing the woman to moan and her hips pivoted, thrusting into the air with each upward lick trying to catch as much of Karin's tongue on her clit as she could. Her sweet juices flowed over Karin's lips and chin, her hands squeezing and scratching at her shoulders and in response Karin pulled the hips up to her mouth and swirled her tongue deep down as far as she could get it, enjoying the taste and the smell of the other woman. She pulled away to wipe the quim from her mouth and catch her breath as Haelga panted, she could almost see the steam rising from her ripe body.  
  
  
  
"Do something to me, do anything!" She whispered, and in response Karin straddled Haelga's face with her legs, giving the blonde a closeup view of her slit.  
  
  
  
"I've been doing all the work. Make me cum and I'll give you something special." Haelga's eyes rose, taking in the toned, pale body, the smaller breasts, the dark, crazy pupils and the confident mouth leering down at her. She looked momentarily unsure of herself, then curious, before giving Karin's crevice a tentative lick and Karin moaned a little for her benefit.  
  
  
  
"How do you like the taste of my pussy baby?"  
  
  
  
"It's...it's not bad." Haelga's tongue slipped between her folds and began to swirl around and Karin relaxed and left herself open as the mouth delved inside her. This is what she needed she thought, letting the bunkhouse owner bathe her inner walls with her tongue. She knew what she was doing too, she'd just never done it on a woman. Without prompting, Haelga grabbed her ass and squeezed, pulling her to her mouth.  
  
  
  
"Oh yessss...just like that. Tease me." The warm tongue slurped, caressed, retreated, flit inside her like a hummingbird and Karin twitched in respond, encouraging Haelga to use her best technique as she reached down and violated her in turn with her fingers. She felt the first orgasm come and she rubbed herself against Haelga's lips, letting her taste her nectar. Haelga spasmed then relaxed, breathing in Karin's scent.  
  
  
  
"You did really good, time to give you that treat I promised. Get on your hands and knees." Haelga did, looking back at Karin's grin with trepidation.  
  
  
  
"What are you going to do now?" In response Karin showed her the dildo. It was fairly hefty, so Karin first spanked one of the round asscheeks with it, enjoying the thundercrack snap of it against Haelga's flesh before doing the other one. Her moan was thick with disappointment and frustration as Karin caressed her pussy with the smooth shaft.  
  
  
  
"Yes! More!"  
  
  
  
"How much do you want it?" She slipped just the head in and then withdrew and Haelga gave a lustful half sob.  
  
  
  
"I want it all, I want you to give it to me hard." Karin gave her a quarter of the member and felt Haelga give way as the hard ivory toy filled her opening. "More!" She pushed the dildo further in, fascinated with seeing Haelga squeezed and conform to it, her leer growing wider. Now she pumped it fast as Haelga slammed her ass against her hand, trying to fit more of the shaft inside herself. Karin varied the speed, sliding it in slowly, withdrawing, then teasing Haelga with quick jackhammering thrusts and the woman groaned like she was dying.  
  
  
  
"Say, that kinda looks like fun." She didn't normally mess with toys but this was a good one and Haelga was responding nicely to it. Getting on her hands and knees, Karin gingerly eased the head of the dildo into herself, drawing in her breath at the cold, foreign sensation. Slowly, slowly...just then Haelga bucked, and Karin felt it drill deep inside, making her wince.  
  
  
  
"Ah! Careful!" She hissed, and Haelga's expression was dreamy, her lips curling seductively.  
  
  
  
"Not used to having something inside you wench?." She began to gyrate, and Karin grit her teeth, struggling to stay up as the horker tusk filled her, stimulated her, plunging deep inside. The discomfort mixed with extreme pleasure each time their bodies docked with eachother. She began to get used to the sensation, and bucked her hips in response even as her knees went weak, Haelga's thick ass slapping against her tight one, each time they met the toy kissed her womb. They twisted together, getting one another in a leg lock of sorts and as the ivory shaft between grew slick Karin caressed her clit, feeling her eyes roll back in her head each time their slits rubbed against eachother. As the bunkhouse owner pumped her hard, visions of Ingun Black-Briar's face brought Karin to a hot and heavy climax and both women cried out before collapsing in eachother's arms.  
  
  
  
Karin gave Haelga five minutes, long enough for the second thoughts to begin to creep in before jumping her again, she still had alot of steam to blow off. Throughout the night, Karin tasted Haelga until she felt her tongue began to chaffe, inserted the toy into every opening she had repeatedly. They collapsed in the late hours of the night, wet, panting, both sweating, and soon enough the blonde was snoring, nestled against Karin's smaller chest. It was hot, tiring, and very satisfying work, but at least she'd found a place to stay for the night, Karin thought, but her head was already going foggy. Ingun Black-Briar, what shall we do with you, she wondered, before exhaustion claimed her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Authors notes:_  
_Ok, I cheated and put my warning at the end here since the first three chapters are going to be kind of tame, figured I'd draw you in a bit. This fic will get a bit darker than what I normally write eventually. There's at least 2 rapey parts and at least once someone gets black widowed, ie, killed right after sex. Also, quite a bit of swearing. But if you're reading this, you're a big boy, if you can handle a Clockwork Orange or any number of 70's exploitation or Rob Zombie movies, it's like those things meet Skyrim._  
  
  
_If you've ever read my stuff, you know I write 10000+ word monsters, since this story has alot of natural stops I'm trying for mini-chapters, ie, writing like a normal human being. Quicker chapters, less plot, a little more sex, it'll probably run 5-7 chapters depending on how I break it up. The others_ _will probably be a bit shorter than this. If your tastes run to other circles, that's fine, Skyrim is a big damn game with many fine looking women, but I always thought Ingun was in the top 5, she's got those features I like and that whole autistic poisoner vibe I dig._  
  
  
  
_So did Maven seem off this chapter? There's a reason! All this boreass intro stuff will add up later, trust me._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Next chapter:_  
  
  
  
_Some backstory on Karin, she bails on a quest 5 minutes in and finds her employer Maven learning how to make sandwiches with two Thalmor. Ingun finds a big damn frostbite spider in the sink and guess who's on hand with a sharp, pointy newspaper? And moss, sweet, delicious, velvety moss!_  
  
  



	2. Black Queen Takes Two Bishops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Purchase of Narcotics With Intent To Use, Contributing to Delinquency, Voyeurism, Harming Local Animal Life

Chapter 2: Black Queen Takes Two Bishops  
  
  
  
_I'd like your blue eyed horseshoe,  
I'd like your emerald horny toad,  
I'd like to do it to your daughter on a dirt road- Blue Oyster Cult  
_  
  
  
  
"Skooma, skooma, skooma.  What can ya do for me?"  Karin sang off key as she skipped along the docks, enjoying the damp, cool air off the lake.  She just liked the way it rolled off her tongue.  Skooma.  She'd padded her pack well but could still hear the soft clink of the bottles.  There was enough skooma inside to keep even the hardest core junkie high for least a month, or get her thrown in Riften jail forever, whichever really.  
  
"Morning handsome!"  She waved at a passing Argonian, who furrowed his reptillian brow at the black haired woman with the queer smile bent over from the giant pack on her shoulder.  The dealer had been Argonian too, after hearing how much skooma she wanted he got real nervous.  She finally convinced him she wasn't trying to entrap him by telling him a few stories about her more colorful adventures, ending with the last Argonian she'd had to stick like a pincushion.  After that, he'd been only too happy to sell her the boatful of narcotics she was asking for, especially after she showed him some coin.  After all the hassle, he'd even given her a bulk discount, but fact was now she was already down to her last two hundred septim.  
  
She'd been kicked out of the bunkhouse first thing that morning.  Haelga had got pretty kinky before they collapsed into sleep together, equally wet and sticky until the crack of dawn, she'd thought maybe she'd convinced the bunkhouse owner for a longer stay, but no luck.  She'd kept the curvaceous blonde up hot and sweaty throughout the long dark night persuading her to show her Dibellan tricks with a little verbal abuse and nimble, insistent fingers.  Karin had squeezed the heavy breasts, tweaked the rouged nipples and sampled Haelga's tongue and pussy and when she finally began flagging they'd played with her collection of toys again.  Might have been her morning face, or more likely an image obsessesed closet pervert like Haelga waking up in the arms of another woman, but either way she'd thrown Karin out on the street bright and early.  
  
"What's the matter?  Didn't like my technique?"  Haelga looked around in an ecstasy of embarassment at the oblivious public square before reaching into her pocket and throwing a few septim at  Karin's feet.  "Oh c'mon, I was worth more than that!"  
  
"Get out of here!  Just go and don't come back!"  The door slammed hard enough for a puff of air to blow Karin's hair back in her face and she smirked.  
  
"You liked it!  You were gushing!  You came like a fucking mammoth stampede!"  She called before stooping to pick up the 5 septim.  So she'd gone up to the Bee and Barb after all and got herself a room.  It was small yet adequate, but the cost would add up quickly.  She'd pawned Maven's crap for another hundred or so but by week's end she'd be flat broke, and she still needed that damn moss.  
  
She locked the door behind her and pulled one of the purple bottles out of her pack, swishing it around.  Karin hadn't had anything for a month except booze, Haelga had taken a little of the edge off but she still felt a little shaky.  Just a small nip wouldn't hurt...no.  Remember, skooma is shit, we're saving this for something better.  She nodded and stuffed the bottles carefully one by one into the mattress where they wouldn't be seen.    
  
She took a quick look at Mistveil on the walk down to Elgrim's, a midsized stone keep situated on a small hill, surrounded by tall walls like the rest of Riften.  She stood looking at them, gauging the distance, figuring it was twice as far as she might be able to jump.  Would have to get up on those walls somehow, otherwise the only approach was the exposed steps leading up.  She started up intending to get a closer look at the keep, when she saw a throng of guards coming down.  Karin turned and walked away as fast as possible while still appearing casual.  She couldn't tell which guard was which with those buckets on their heads, and just going up maybe wasn't such a hot idea after all, what with the friends she'd already made at the gate.  She followed the wall along a ways, looking for footholds and not finding any until she came to a small cemetary nearby.  There was a big crypt in the middle, and nearby a statue of Talos, surrounded by trees.  The trees were no good, thin branches that wouldn't support any weight, but the statue was close to the wall.  It was still a big leap, and missing it would bust her ass but good she thought, but if she had the right liquid motivation, she might make it.  Follow the wall back over the battlements, there was another tricky jump in between, but aside from that, it was a straight shot to the keep.  It wasn't a great entrance, but flying on Lightning she thought she could make it.  She still had to get a look inside the keep though.  
  
In the three minutes it took her to walk back to the square, her plan was already half formed.  One of the dresses she'd "borrowed" from Haelga was alot nicer than the one she was wearing, and supposedly Jarl whatshername hated skooma dealing, kinda funny considering how easy it had been to pick up.  Now what had that Argonian's name been again?  
  
"Interested in something?"  The Dunmer merchant had a fur lined cap pulled down over her long ears and her red eyes followed Karin like a hawk as she browsed her wares, refining her plan in the back of her mind.  Yeah, case the interior, find a way in somehow, she'd use the wall if nothing better presented itself, but she still needed the moss and had no idea how to get it without more money.  Karin had reflexes, but she wasn't what you'd call a deep thinker, she never thought hard on this kind of stuff, it just came to her, sometimes spur of the moment, and if it didn't, she just took it easy till it did.  Like when she spotted the loose red apple that she began making a point to ignore.  
  
"Can I see those leeks?"  She pointed, and as the dark elf turned away for a moment to get one, in one casual motion Karin's other hand had palmed the apple into her pocket, just like that.  "Eh, on second thought, I'm fine."  The woman's stern expression became even harder as Karin walked off, whistling.  You're never going to get laid with that look honey she thought.  Now was as good a time as any to see if she could work something out with that old goat about that emperor moss, and if not, a drink of Ingun's loveliness might motivate her a bit after the sour faced vegetable vendor.  As she passed the stalls the loud mouth hawking the quack elixirs and phony dick medicine smiled broadly and beckoned her over.  
  
"Nice move.  I can introduce you to some people who might like to meet with you."   He whispered conspiratorially, but his cocksure smile frayed at the edge's at Karin's blank expression.  
  
"Don't ever talk to me again."  She muttered darkly as she kept walking, and the man just shook his head.  Some people.  
  
  
  
  
"What do you mean Ingun's not in?  I thought she practically lived here!"    
  
"You're right, it's very unusual for her to be out.  I understood she had family business."  Hafjorg said with infinite patience.  The leather faced old woman who had come to the counter turned out to be Elgrim's wife, no use trying to drink from that well.  Hopefully Maul hadn't warned Ingun off her already.  
  
"Well what about Elgrim?"  
  
"He's sleeping, I'm afraid he gets quite cranky if he's woken up, it wouldn't be a good idea.  I can help you with whatever you need though.  
  
"Emperor parasol moss."  
  
"Emperor parasol moss."  The old woman repeated slowly.  Was their an echo in here?  This was really stressing Karin out she had to say, this one single thing was jacking up her job.  "I'm not sure we carry any.  I could order you some?"    
  
"When do you think you could get it?"  
  
"A week maybe, if I ordered today.  It's expensive though."  A fucking week!  Not only would she be out of money by then, she was pretty sure Maven wouldn't wait that long.  Karin sucked in air between her teeth and forced the smile again.  When knifing someone smiling came easy to her, social situations, not so much.  
  
"Yeah, why don't you go ahead and order that for me?"  
  
"Of course my dear.  I'll need 400 septim up front."  
  
"That's...out of my range.  Could you get it for 100?"  
  
"Oh I see.  Well I'm afraid not, but if money is a problem, maybe we can help eachother.  I need an ore sample from Shor's Stone, but I can't go myself.  You can see this place would fall apart right now without me.  Could you possibly get it for me?"  
  
"What's in it for me?"  
  
"I could pay you the 300 you need to make up the difference?"  Karin shrugged.  She'd already arranged to check out Mistveil tomorrow, so she had nothing better to do at this point.  
  
"Sure, I'll grab your rock for you."  
  
"That's wonderful dear.  Remember, you need to see Filnjar in Shor's Stone, just drop my name and he'll give you the ore sample, bring it right to me!"  
  
  
  
  
Maybe they'd run the toll scam once too often or maybe Maul had talked with them , but the guards didn't give her any trouble leaving Riften.  To the east were the snowcapped mountains in the distance marking the border to Skyrim, and Karin knew what was back west, but other than that she had no idea where Shor's Stone was.  Guess it would have helped to ask Hafjorg where she was actually going before she went, oh well.  She started walking towards the mountains when she heard high pitched shouting.  The noise was coming from a little ways away, so Karin crept up, using the trees for cover until she got close enough to see the boy.   There was a beehive, their inhabitants flying to and fro gathering nectar and the little brown haired boy, maybe ten or so, was swinging a stick at their supply line like he was fighting off ice wraiths. Occasionally he'd knock one out of the air with it's bee guts hanging out, as she watched he came close to whacking the hive itself.  
  
"Hey kid, that's no kind of game to be playing!"  The boy yelped and turned guiltily.  He seemed about to say something smart to her but then his eyes dropped to Karin's dagger.  
  
"Don't hurt me."    
  
"C'mon, do I look like a bandit?"  She gave him her big crescent moon grin and he seemed to relax a bit.  The kid didn't look like he had anything on him but the stick anyway.  
  
"I guess not."  
  
"What a sweetie.  What are you doing out here?"  
  
"I was just playing.  One of them stung me, they deserve it!"  
  
"Maybe, but you hit their hive, they're going to sting you alot more."  Not that Karin would give a shit, she was more concerned with stray bees stinging her.  
  
"You're not my mom!"  
  
"I sure as hell hope not.  So kid, you know the way to Shor's Stone?"  
  
"Yeah.  It's a few miles that way."  The boy pointed north.  
  
"How many we talking?  Can you show me?"  Karin showed him her crumbling map and the boy pointed to a spot a good ways from where they were.  
  
"Maybe...eight?  I'm not good with maps."  That was way farther than she wanted to go and she was in no mood to double back.  When it came to getting work done, it was hard for her to get going, but when it came to avoiding it, Karin had a certain kind of genuis.  Looking at the boy, inspiration struck.  
  
"Hey, since you're not doing anything important here and you know the way anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a favor and go to Shor's Stone for me?   I need to get this ore sample from a guy named Filnjar right, but I gotta be back at my shop before sunset.  If you did that for me I'd be real appreciative."  She fluttered her lashes at the boy, who's face in turn scrunched up  distrustfully.  Damn, if his balls had dropped already that would have been too easy.  
  
"That's a long ways, and besides, I don't even know you.  I probably shouldn't even be talking to you.  Why can't you go?"  
  
"Kid, are you a true Nord?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  Karin looked around, and then leaned in close.  
  
"I mean, you're not for the Empire are you?  You do support Ulfric Stormcloak dont'cha?"  
  
"Yeah..."  He said it cautiously, unsure if he was giving her the right answer. "Why do you want to know?"  
  
"Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to share this, but you got me.  I work for Ulfric.  This ore it's real special.  It's, uh, star metal."  
  
"Star metal?"  
  
"Yeah, see, when you see shooting stars in the sky, sometimes they fall to earth right?  They're just these big rocks, but inside are-"  She snapped her fingers in front of his wide eyes.  "Hey, you listening?"  
  
"Star metal."  He breathed.  "What's it do?"  
  
"You can kill a ghost with it."      
  
"Wow."  He was looking at Karin now with something like religious awe.    
  
"You said it.  We get a few swords made of that, we'll change the whole course of the war, roll right over those damn Imperials."  The boy's face was all lit up now, he was getting swept along with her fable.  
  
"What can I do?"  He asked, still looking at her like she was Ulfric himself.  
  
"Like I said, I've got to get this ore from Filnjar, but I think I've been made, they know my face and they'll be looking for me there.  They won't be looking for a kid though.  That ores got to get to Hafjorg in Riften!"    
  
"But, but it's so far!  The woods are full of wolves and bandits!  Frost spiders!"  
  
"You'll be fine, young, fast little thing like you, I bet you run really fast right?"  
  
"Oh you bet!  But still-"  
  
"Look kid, if you're too scared to help me, that's fine, go home and suck on your mama's titty.  But if you're a brave, patriotic Nord like me, then I know you'll help me.  Do it for Ulfric.  Do it for Skyrim."  She gripped the little rube's shoulders and squeezed for effect, doing her best to look serious.  "You'd be a hero.  Don't you want to do something more than kill bees?"  The boy's face grew solemn.  
  
"Alright, I'll do it."  
  
"Good boy.  What's your name kid?"  
  
"It's Jan."  
  
"Ulfric and I won't forget this Jan.  Good luck.  Stay on the main roads, and get that ore back as soon as ya can.  We're all counting on you!"  The boy gave her a stern salute which Karin returned with her best approximation and watched the runt's legs pump till he was out of sight.  Well that was definitely amusing, one more thing out of the way too.  It was still early, so she kept walking towards the mountains, alone with the crisp air and the crunch of golden leaves under her shoes, hoping something would spark.  All that came to her were dumb fantasies about happening on some overgrown treasure chest or lucking out and finding some mark on the road to rob.  So she kept walking, waiting for her back brain to do it's work, distracting herself from the numbing sameness of the scenery with thoughts of the Lightning she'd brew and memories of happier times.      
  
Well, maybe not happier, but it seemed like she'd taken less shit back when she was a bandit.  They'd had a good run, it was easy to fade back into the hills after a raid, and the Reach crazies kept the Markarth guards' hands full.  Speaking of full hands, those Forsworn women were something.  Faces painted, sacrificing goats and people and other weird shit, half the time as hopped up as Karin's gang on whatever strange roots they were chewing.  Sometimes they gave the gang trouble too, they weren't particular about who they raped and robbed, and sometimes they had to be be set straight.  
  
Karin let her mind drift back, remembering the last one she'd set straight, mingled confusion, fear, and finally lust from the Forsworn as Karin had torn off the skimpy furs and helped herself to those voluptious tits and that body toned from wild living in the mountains.  Sometimes the gang gave her the women first like that, she was good at softening them up for a gang fuck, but she took them by force if they were good looking enough.  It was slim pickings for her in the gang after all, there was Tarion, a Bosmer who experimented but didn't fuck anyone else without her man's ok, and there was Sevory Vanina, but everybody called "Savory" because she was a tattooed brunette who'd do anybody.  They'd had real good times, she'd got the both of them to eat her out at the same time once, there was no arguing with the feeling of a woman's lips on each thigh, but it wasn't all sweetrolls.  They both preferred men and like Karin at the time were usually pretty filthy, banditing didn't lend itself to cleanliness.  The men were always a problem too since Karin was strictly women only.    
  
Sometimes the men would fuck them both while the girls worked Karin over, she didn't mind the guys watching her do them as long as she was getting hers, but if they ever got any bright ideas, she'd get mean.  Rip one pair of balls off and usually people got the message, but there was always new meat coming to the gang that had to learn the hard way.  They'd see her riding one of the girl's faces or teasing them with her tongue and get the wrong idea, and then she'd  have to gently refuse the guy, and if that failed, crush his fucking balls like grapes.  So yeah, there was always friction with Karin having to watch her rear and then dealing with some dumbshit who couldn't take no for an answer.  After a couple of those, it was just easier on everybody if she did her own thing.  She did still get a certain perverse thrill from seeing the men fuck Tarion and Sevory though, and the women they'd take back to ravish.  She still liked seeing them writhe and moan, she'd just rather it was her making it happen.    
  
They might have gone on like that to this day till they'd hit that one caravan and found the alchemist's notes on Lightning.  Emerens could read, and they'd always been the types to drink, chew, smoke, or snort anything that came their way, of course they tried it and then...what was that?    
  
The monotonous sound of distant birds was broken by the gallop of horses and Karin ducked behind the nearest tree.  A dozen riders trotted by, anonymous in brown wool cloaks, and Karin was about to write them off when she heard the unmistakably conceited voice of Maven Black-Briar among them.  She squinted, looking for the female rider, the elevation gave her a clear view as they passed while making it difficult to be seen.  She spotted Maven near the center, riding alongside the only other woman in the group.    
  
As she watched they slowed at the fork in the road, apparently they weren't far from where they were going.  She shadowed them from the hills, trying to be stealthy without losing them, the dry leaves were more likely to give her away than anything.  They dismounted at a big wood lodge a little ways off and checked their horses.  Karin found a closer vantage point, she could make out Maven's self important face now, but her breath caught when the other rider revealed herself to be Ingun.  The hood had hidden her hair but there was no mistaking that familiar mouth and porcelain skin.  Together they went into the lodge, leaving four of the men, big, rough looking son of a bitches in steel armor remained outside to guard the front.  More cloaked riders approached the lodge now and dismounted.  She couldn't hear a thing from this distance, but after handing the stableman his reins she could see the pale blonde hair and pointed golden ears as the lead rider took off his hood.  His companions did likewise, all were wearing the gleaming armor of the Dominion.      
  
Thalmor!  Now this was interesting, Karin thought as the group entered the lodge.  Maven's keeping friends she shouldn't be keeping, maybe the day hadn't been a total loss.  She circled the lodge, probing it for weaknesses as the armor plated stooges patrolled the front.  There was no going in from there or the sides, but the lodge was built against a hill, it looked like she could get into the second floor from the rear.  She snuck around and spotted the back door easy, as well as the one guard up in the small watchtower above it, from which he had a clear view of the entire hill.  Karin began to have second thoughts, she'd just gone for a walk and here she was getting ready to maybe piss off more armed mercenaries than she could handle, and her employer and the Thalmor too.  
  
She debated with herself, weighing the cost benefit of slinking away and focusing on the job she was paid to do, or maybe burning her last bridge with Maven on the off chance she'd find out something lucrative.  Still...it was just one dumb guard wasn't it?  She'd come all the way out here and happened on this, whatever it was, she wasn't leaving without something to blackmail Maven on.  She threw a rock as hard as she could, she'd always had a good arm and it pitched into the far underbrush where she wanted it.  The guard's head poked out, looking for the noise, and Karin adjusted her aim and threw another just out of his line of sight.    
  
"Someone there?"  Karin rolled her eyes, this guy was pretty dense.  She threw another stone, and finally saw the head in the tower disappear, a minute later she saw his figure heading slowly for the far side of the woods.  When he was out of sight, Karin crept out and softly tried the door.  Locked, no surprise, and she probably wouldn't have enough time to pick it.  There were windows at this level, too small for a full size man to get through, but she thought if she squeezed she might make it.  Peeking through to make sure there was nobody else, she slipped the flat of her dagger between the frame and jerked hard.  It cracked, and with another jerk the window came off it's hinges.  She pulled herself into the narrow opening, biting down on her lip as splinters dug into her skin and the small frame painfully chaffed her shoulders and chest.  Taking a deep breath and sucking herself in she squeezed through and managed to tumble into a graceless heap relatively quietly.  She quickly replaced the window, if anyone examined it they'd know it was broken but it didn't look like it saw much use.      
  
  
  
  
Karin was on an upper landing, below her she could hear the clink of cutlery and drunken chatter, it sounded like the rest of Maven's men were down there having lunch.  The landing was exposed, the second someone came upstairs she'd be seen.  There was an open bedroom down the hall, but as Karin looked above her, her grin reemerged.  She had a better idea.  She jumped, grabbing onto the thick beam overhead, then with deceptive ease she pulled herself up into the rafters.   They were wide and supported Karin's weight easily, even though she had to remain stopped over she was able to scuttle overhead without effort.  She inched along until she was directly above the dining hall.  There were about half a dozen mercenaries digging in down there, two more in the corner were playing dice.  She resisted an urge to see if she could hock some spit into one of the wine glasses, if she gave herself away, she wouldn't live to regret it.  Karin felt the familiar thrill of extreme danger, like electricity in her copper nerves, making her heart pound and every movement feel exagerated. It was the next best feeling to Lightning, except getting laid of course.  
  
Now that she was inside, the lodge seemed smaller compared to the exterior, Maven and Ingun should be easy to find.  She cleared the dining room, finding herself looking down at a long hall.  At the far end, a pair of Maven's guards stood with arms crossed, glaring across at their Thalmor counterparts, who returned the look with disdainful silence.  In that quiet, beyond the door Karin could hear the soft murmur of them talking, pompous male Thalmor voices, then Maven.  She crept, quiet and lithe as a cat among the rafters past the hostile guards towards the unmistakable sound of condescending assholes having a conversation until she came out above a large, well furnished sitting room.  The walls were covered with various hunting trophies, and a bear skin rug dominated the floor, it's glass eyes staring dully into the ornate, crackling fireplace.  Lounging on a plush couch was Maven, her arms spread comfortably behind her, at ease in her own lodge.  Across from her on another couch were the other two Thalmor, by contrast they both sat rigid as statues.  
  
"I really don't see why we're still arguing.  I fully intend to share any profits with the Dominion for the usual percentage."  
  
"We've explained to you time and again why we won't support trade with holds that support the rebel Ulfric, even if it's under the table."  
  
"Yes, well, often it's more profitable to deal in gray than black and white.  Everything's negotiable.  I didn't make it to where I am today by ignoring opportunities.  I've come out with a wealth of coin many times by embracing my enemies...in the short term."    
  
"The Dominion has no need of such trickery."    
  
"Of course you don't my dear Nistil.   But it makes things just a bit easier doesn't it?"  Nistil, the one in the flashier uniform spoke in the typically arrogant, officious tone Karin had come to associate with Thalmor, but Maven's voice was self assured yet deferential.  It tinkled like fine china, giving her a quality that was almost charming compared to the ice cold reception she'd given Karin.  "You're missing the forest for the trees.  It would be unwise to come out in support of the Empire prematurely."  
  
"Coming out early can only help our cause.  We're not supporting Ulfric no matter what."  
  
"You don't have to, that's the beauty of having me as a friend.  If there's coin to be made from Ulfric, why not make it and hasten his downfall?"  
  
"Again, this is not open for negotiation Maven.  We'll support your Jarlship as agreed, but in return, you will publically denounce Ulfric and all his supporters."  From the shadows of the rafters, Karin could make out Maven's lazy smile.  Karin was also smiling, she wasn't sure how to exploit this information yet, but it sounded like it was worth something.  Fucking Thalmor.  Wasn't Maven patriotic?  Sure, Karin's patriotism didn't extend beyond the fact that the Imperials would chop her head off right away and the Nords might wait a little while, but still!        
  
"If the stormcloaks win, then I'll support you covertly until your inevitable victory.  If the empire wins, then I'll openly advocate for us to embrace you.  I require some automony, it's just good business."  
  
"The fact that we allow you to remain Jarl is more than enough!"  Nistil's aide sneered, and without faultering Maven turned her hostess's smile on the brash interuption.  "You may be some kind of figure in Riften, but to the Dominion you're just a disposable Nord who happens to be useful for the moment."  Nistil glared at the other Thalmor, who in turn grudgingly bowed his head.  
  
"He's full of fire." She said.  "If gold doesn't interest you, perhaps I could offer something else?  Something off the books perhaps?"  The aide lifted his head and together the two Thalmor exchanged a cautious look.  "Just between the three of us, no one else has to know.  You, me, and..."  
  
"Tivalla."  The other Thalmor said curtly.  
  
"Yes.  You advocate this one little concession for me and I'll see you both well rewarded.  You know I'm a woman of my word."  It was quiet for a moment while the two Thalmor gauged whether the other was the type to rat him out.  
  
"We want nothing but your allegiance under the conditions we've stated."  Nistil finally said.  "You have nothing to offer us Maven."    
  
"Don't I?  If you don't want gold, maybe you'd like the other thing all men seem interested in?  Unless you're into boys I mean."  It was dead silent except the crackle of the fireplace.  Tivalla's brow knit together, like he was trying to decide how skeever tasted, while Nistil's face seemed frozen in an expression of stupid wonder.    
  
"What do you mean by that?"  He said slowly, glancing at his aide.  Maven stood up and walked over to the other couch, before squeezing in between the two surprised mer.  The couch wasn't  large, with Maven sitting between them, they had to either get up or endure her legs squeezing against them as she placed her manicured hands on each of their legs.  
  
"Oh I think you know.  Or I could just show you."  The hands caressed suggestively up to their thighs.  
  
"This-this is obscene!  How dare you!"  The aide bolted upright, his golden face flushing a dark orange, while his boss seemed too shocked to move.  He was stiff as a board, watching as if a poisonous spider was crawling up his leg as Maven's hand kneaded and then found its way  underneath his robe.  Her smile was confident and her eyes sly as she hovered over Nistil and kissed him hard.  The Thalmor was crushed back into the couch, hands flailing as she leaned into the kiss before turning his head where Tivalla could fully see.  His resistance quickly subsided as she began to pull off his clothing and her fur lined dress, revealing her bare shoulders.  
  
"Sir!  Sir!  Maven, miss Maven, I must-I must insist that you stop this immediately!  Sir!  This is not...sir you're married!"  
  
"Are you?"  Maven raised her rear up and wiggled it invitingly as she stroked Nistil's blonde hair.  Now he was returning her kiss and his hands had begun to move up and down her sides.  
  
"How can you?"  The aide sputtered, bewildered as Maven worked her way down his colleague, he was down to his undershirt now and she had just unbuttoned his pants.  
  
"Tivalla, I'd appreciate if you didn't...oh!"  Whatever he was going to say to his subordinate was forgotten as Maven took his rod into her mouth and worked her way down the golden shaft, running a fingernail gently down it's underside to his balls.  She flicked her tongue in circles around his length before teasing the head with the tip of her tongue and the elf closed his eyes and looked like he was dying.  Her ass was practically in the other Thalmor's face, and she hiked up her dress in the back to reveal her rounded cheeks clad in black silk lingerie.  Now the younger elf could make out the shape of her beckoning crevice between the tempting buns.  
  
"Altmer don't interbreed with inferior stock." Tivalla sniffed, sounding like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone.  Maven took her lips off Nistil's cock, leaving a ring of mauve lipstick around the head and gaver the other Thalmor the first look of real annoyance.  
  
"Good thing I'm only interested in sex and not childen then."  She stroked the Thalmor's shaft as she spoke, giving the other mer a view.  "You're not fooling anyone.  Men are men, whether they're Nord or Altmer, and I know what men like.  You could both take me, right now, and any time we meet from now on, that's what I'm offering.  Or you could wonder every time you see me with my clothes on.  Now are you going to stand there like a eunuch and watch me do things to him he could only dream his frigid wife could do, or are you going to give me another hard cock?"  She resumed sucking on the moaning Thalmor, who began to guide Maven's bobbing head with his hands.  The younger aide was silent, physically shaking, before breaking and driving himself up against Maven's back feverishly.  Karin heard the fabric rip from up in the rafters and Maven's moan as he freed the large breasts from their confines and began to squeeze them in his his hands, still thrusting against her with desperate abandon.  
  
Karin had been watching this all from the shadows with disbelief, her surprise slowly becoming a leer as the Thalmor behind her bit into a mouthful of Maven's ass cheek.  It was really difficult to shock Karin considering she didn't bat an eye at sexual assault with a broom handle, but she just couldn't believe what she was seeing.  This was the kind ofstuff she thought about when she was bored and horny and here was the proper old ice queen of Riften acting it out, with Thalmor no less, it was surreal, like the kind of thing she'd see mixing skooma and red weed.  
  
Now Maven was stripping off the rest of her dress with the two Thalmors' hot and willing help, revealing a bare, ripe body clad in lingerie lacy as anything in Haelga's drawers.  She was pretty damn impressive for someone's mom Karin thought.  Her employer didn't have a tight, hard little body like hers maybe, but the sizable breasts had filled out without sagging and Karin couldn't see flab on her from her this angle.  What was it with evil people not aging?  Maven guided their hands over herself, over her shoulders, around her globes, like she was soaping herself, before sucking on one of their fingers and guiding the other's to her slit.  Now they were all naked, Karin could no longer tell one Thalmor from another as they sandwiched the older woman between them, writhing together, pressed skin to skin.  They were both very tall and maybe thinner than Karin but Maven had a larger frame comparatively, she looked like an amazon compared to the two slim elves.   As Karin watched, she nuzzled their cocks against her face, eyes closed, nibbled on one of the heads.  She straddled the aide, rubbing her pussy insistently up his leg.  
  
"I'll bet your women don't have breasts as big as mine.  Do they?  They must be positively massive to you."  Her voice was like honey, poise with an undercurrent of wantoness.   He shook his head with pathetic eagerness, and she rewarded him by burying his face between her tits.  His friend was trying in vain to enter Maven but he had no angle.  "Not yet, we have to get ready first.  You can't rush pleasure.  Toy with me, suck on my nipples."  Maven positioned herself between the two, holding their heads to her breasts, urging their fingers to pet and caress her nethers as her hips moved side to side like a snake.  "Yes, that's it.  Go ahead and bite them too."    
  
From Karin's position, she had a complete frontal view of Maven's body, in her opinion a woman's body never looked better than when they were lying back like this, and she felt herself getting a bit hot and bothered.  Much as she hated Maven, she was impressed despite herself and she had to admit this whole scene was making her wet.  She'd been positive Maven had cobwebs growing in her pussy but she dominated those two Thalmor like a pro, made them look like boys as she took her pleasure from their mouths.  It wasn't surprising the men would be so easy.  Altmer women couldn't have kept their legs tighter togther than if they had a dick tucked back there, and Karin found the more stuck up and prudish, the bigger the pervert hiding below.  Karin allowed herself to fantasize it was her down there with her employer, she'd be much rougher with that arrogant bitch and her fingertips snuck down to between her legs and found the nub of her clit underneath the cloth.  Gently pressing it, her body's response was immediate and intense and she stifled a sigh.  Below her the two Thalmor's hard members were pushing against Maven's thighs like hot pokers.  
     
"Go ahead now.  Put it deep in my pussy."  The Thalmor grunted as he sheathed his sword inside Maven, slapping against her vigourously.  Maven's tight cheeks pulled inward as she polished the other's cock and massaged his balls, jerking the base of his shaft with each suck.  For a moment it looked like Maven had bitten off more than she could chew as each elf tried to take Maven for himself.  The one fucking her had the advantage, pulling her ass closer against his hips with each thrust.  
  
"Yes! Take it you barbarian slut!"  He breathed, and Karin risked another caress down below, biting her forearm.    
  
"I have seniority, it's my turn to fuck her!"  The other said angrily.  "Lie back on the couch Maven."  He commanded.  They'd all gone from dignified to gleefully debauched.  She turned over on her back, spreading her legs and accepted Nistil's length into her with a small squeal of satisfaction.  "Ah!" He cried as she pivoted her hips, sucking him in.  
  
"Such a nice, tight fit you are."  She purred.  "Admit it, you've wanted me for awhile now."  
  
"I...I wanted this."  
  
"So did I."  The mauve painted lips smiled knowingly.  You cunning, manipulative whore Karin thought half admiringly as Maven took that cock and his aide fed her his hard one.  She was sucking on it like a drunk sucks on a bottle of good booze, the Thalmor pumped her mouth while the one on the other side slammed it into Maven's pussy.  Maybe it was a domination thing but she had to admit she was enjoying seeing those two plow her employer's fertile fields from both ends.  Karin massaged a breast underneath her shirt, unsurprised to find her nipples hard as she traced a finger down her cleft.  She wanted to press there, but she didn't dare go further or chance a gasp, just enough to keep the tingling sensation going down there as she watched the three of them.  
  
"Come on, give me more!  Give it all to me!"  Maven demanded, as the one on top pumped her with all he had Maven deep throated his friend with eyes closed.  They climaxed, criss-crossing her chest with long, thin streams of white seed, and Maven dipped a delicate fingertip in it before having a taste.  
  
"So gentlemen, can I count on you championing my concerns with the Dominion?"  The two of them looked at her disbelieving.    
  
"You can't expect us to-"  
  
"No of course not, we're still negotiating.  That was just a sample.  No need to hold out on me.  You won't have this opportunity again for awhile and I haven't begun to show you what I can do."  
  
"You still want more?"  
  
"I told you, Nord women are different.  I am going to fuck the two of you until you agree to all of my terms."  
  
  
  
  
Karin lost track of time, it might have been an hour, time always seemed slower when she was frustrated.  They changed positions so often Karin soon lost track who was who again as one pumped Maven from the side, and then another banged her over her a chair.   She submitted herself to their every perverted curiousity with the ease and skill of a veteran high class prostitute.  They smacked her face with their members, they lay her back against cushions and drove deep into her like she was a dog, and always her mouth and then her ass was filled.  But Maven was a machine, and she refused to take no for an answer.  
  
"Maven!  I can't!"  Nistil wheezed.   She clung like a cat between the trunks of their bodies, hanging off the neck of the man behind her as she wrapped her legs around the one in her front and titty fucked his face.  They ground her between the trunks of their bodies, but she showed no signs of slowing, they had to be going dry now.  They were thrusting into her from both sides, she had ravaged them, turned them into gasping virgin boys with her sexual experience.  She may have been old enough to be Karin's mother but she had stayed wet and eager at least as long as old Savory could have.  
  
"I'm done!  No more!"  The other whined, and in response Maven clenched and squeezed his shaft even as she thrust against the other cock inside her.  
  
"Call me mistress!"    
  
"Please mistress!  Enough!"  
  
"I'll bet your balls are ready to explode by now.  Wouldn't you like to cum all over my face?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"Yes, what?"  
  
"Yes mistress Maven!"  He groaned, they were flagging but they couldn't stop, she was sucking them dry but they were slaves to their lust.  
  
"I want trade with the Stormcloak holds."  The one in front grunted, and Maven responded by sticking her tongue down his throat.  Breaking the kiss, he gasped like he was coming up for air.  "I wasn't finished.  Grant me preferred status in the Dominion too and in return you can both share in my spoils any time you want, and I won't breathe a word to the embassy."  Both their legs were getting shaky, their face's turned up in strained ectasy, and Karin fondled herself more roughly.  She knew it was stupid to be turned on at the thought of discovery, but she couldn't help it.  
  
"You can,"  Nistil panted.  "You can have the trade!  I'm going to blow my load!"  
  
"Not in my pussy you won't, I thought you swore by your precious racial purity.  I'll bring you to climax, and then you two can rest.   Agreed?"  
  
"Agreed!"  The two elves said frantically and Maven slowed her movements.  
  
"Good boys."  Her voice was pleased.  "Now give me your white hot milk."  She knelt between them, indulgently slurping on one shaft, then another, before taking the heads of both their cocks into her mouth simultaneously.  
  
"Oh!  Suck it harder Maven!  I'm dying!"    
  
"I want to savor every drop, go ahead both of you, cum for me.  Spill it all over me."  
  
Maven cupped her tits together, her eyes inviting and the curl of her lips sure as they bathed the full figured woman's chest, lips, and even her hair, their cocks twitching in her hands as the white seed pooled between the magnificent mountains of her breasts.  She took both their cocks in her hands, suckling the last drops out with her mouth.  She drained the life out of their balls and left the two slender Thalmor spent and dripping.  
  
"So much cum."  She rubbed it dreamily on her chest like lotion and Karin felt her own small orgasm pass as she removed her fingers, glad they were both done.  They lay on the couch together, the Thalmor panting heavily, while Maven sat between them, running her hands over them like pets.  Satisifed she had seen enough, Karin backed away into the far shadow of the rafters.  
  
"Now that we've concluded negotiations, can I interest you in something else to eat?"  Maven, ever the gracious host offered.  
  
  
  
  
  
Getting out was easier than getting in, all Karin had to do was kick herself a good sized hole where the roof met the walls before scrambling out the lodge's blind side.  Half an hour later, she'd put enough distance between herself and Maven's lodge to think.  She could have watched them go at it all day and might have been stuck till nightfall if they had.  The Jarl thing and the Dominion backing Maven was interesting, but to Karin the really juicy bit was her taking it in all her holes from them.  How to use that though?   Her thoughts were interrupted by a female scream and Karin froze.  Another scream, closer and Karin fixed on it, darting towards the sound.  Today's just full of interesting people she thought.    
  
She prided herself on her speed, she'd covered a quarter of a mile already, but the screams stopped and Karin guessed whatever happened was over.  Just then she heard wood snapping, and who should come crashing through, scratched and her face pale as death but Ingun Black-Briar.  As Karin watched, she stumbled, gave an out of breath sob, and picked herself up before scurrying away as fast as she could.  Her face was terrified, and the lech in Karin had time to note that her bodice was ripped giving her a tantalizing preview of her cleavage before she was up again, legs pumping heedlessly.  No sooner was she on her feet then Karin saw what she was running from.  The Frostbite spider chasing Ingun was brown and hairy, at least as big as she was.  It's eight legs scuttered across the ground after it's prey and the large mandibles clicked together busily, scraps of Ingun's clothing still clinging to them.  The two of them were so involved in their chase they ignored Karin, and in the moment it took her to process this new bit of luck her grin had already spread across her face.    
  
"Hey!  Hey you cocksucker!"  She bellowed.  The spider didn't even slow down as the knife handle bounced harmlessly off it's leg.  She ran after it, throwing another knife, and this one must have nicked it's thorax because it turned, it's cluster of onyx eyes questioning.  
  
"Yeah, you!  Crazy legs!  Come to mama!"  She pulled her good dagger and closed the distance with it as it raised it's forelegs, ready to fight.  The dagger was an orc piece with a serrated edge, and she waved it in easy patterns in the air, not that the spider seemed especially afraid.  Rearing up, it lunged, and Karin dodged to the side, slashing with the blade.  There was a dry crunch at the joint, and the giant arachnid stumbled back.  The leg was now hanging on by a thread of meat, but the spider turned as if it was nothing and spat a glob of green venom at Karin.  Instinctually she shielded her face and the liquid caught her on the bare arm.  
  
"Gah!"  She cradled it against her dress as skin smoked from the chemical burn there, and the spider took the opportunity to lunge again.  The leg cleaved air where Karin had been a second ago but the sharp tip caught her bodice.  With a swipe, the spider tore her dress open, exposing her breasts to the chill air, and Karin looked down unbelieving.  Why me, she thought, go for Ingun!  Getting in closer, she managed to stick it near where the neck would be on a human.  She thought she was doing well, weaving and slicing even though fighting giant spiders wasn't her forte when it got lucky and managed to trip her with one of it's legs.  
  
Karin fell back, feeling the air knocked out of her, it was already on top of her before she'd hit the ground.  The bulbous head hovered over her, the eight eyes flicking in different directions until it's mandibles opened wide.  She smelled the rotten stench from it's mouth as it tried to find her face, but the feeling of it's fangs biting into the arm she shielded herself with was worse.  She screamed as she felt them dig in, injecting her with a venom that made her feel like she was freezing to death.  She wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but instead she jerked it's disgusting head onto the edge of her dagger.  She stabbed up as hard as she could, hoping like hell it was feeling every barb on the dagger as it went through.  It convulsed and she pulled the dagger free and then drove it home again.  Then again.  It spasmed, the legs kicking violently and finally the heavy thing settled on top of Karin in a grotesque embrace.   She felt light headed and weak, but revulsion gave her the strength to finally kick the thing off her.    
  
"Are you alright?"  Ingun asked, coming out from behind a tree with a rock in her hand.  Karin gave her a cocky grin, then stumbled a little and sat down hard on the forest floor.  
  
"Just fine, just, you know."  She shrugged and looked at the mess to her right.  It was still twitching occasionally, she guessed it was kind of cute in it's way and she admired it for what it was, but all those hairy legs, yeck.  
  
"Thank you so much for saving my life."  She said stepping forward before her face fell.  "You're hurt."  Karin looked down and sheepishly covered herself up.  Well now Ingun knew what her's looked like and she'd only seen her mom naked, it hardly seemed fair.  She'd really liked this dress too!  "Your arm..."  
  
"Oh, right, my arm."  Between the venom and the bite, her arm was turning purple, and blood was still welling from it.  Karin held out the arm and Ingun took it gently, examining the fang marks with a physician's seriousness.  
  
"I can help, hold still.  You look familiar, we've met before haven't we?"  Karin nodded, enjoying the other woman's touch and attention.    
  
"Elgrim's remember?"  
  
"Oh yes, Karin right?  You wanted the emperor parasol moss.  Here, keep the arm elevated, I've got something that will do in a pinch."  Reaching into a pouch at her hip, she pulled out some roots and herbs, then placed them in a small bowl and ground them quickly together.  "Sorry about the taste, but it should clear up the venom and help with the swelling.  You'll still need to get to a healer or there'll be scarring."  She held her nose and swallowed the mess Ingun offered, following it with a few swigs from her canteen.    
  
"I could use a few more fashionable scars."  Ingun helped her to her feet and Karin groaned.  The swill Ingun gave her made her want to vomit but she could already feel the pain leaving.  "What were you doing all the way out here alone?"    
  
"Oh, I was gathering canis root.  You know how it is."  She laughed lightly, and a little inappropriately Karin thought.  "You see one and you pick it, then you see another, and pretty soon you've walked halfway to Shor's Stone picking regents."  
  
"If you say so."  
  
"I got too far away from the lodge, then that spider jumped me and I just panicked.  I'm just lucky you happened along."  
  
"I'll say, that thing almost took my arm off.  It's dangerous to be out here alone."  
  
"Would you mind walking me back to the lodge?  I thought I could handle myself but after what just happened..."  Karin smiled naturally as she let her eyes slide over Ingun's smooth skin, the dark eyes, the sensuous lips, the perfectly proportioned body that stood now with a leg crossed shyly behind the other.    
  
"Sure.  Us girls have to stick together."  As close together as we can stick she thought and the smile quirked into a leer.  
  
  
  
  
"So there's a guy, or maybe it's a girl, they call him, or her the 'Tea killer'.  Would slip poison into somebody's wine, and they'd die a week later, it'd look completely natural.  Guess their boss stiffed 'em a few times, ya know, said 'Oh, guy died before you could kill them, I'm not paying.'  So now when they go it's real painful, screaming and everything.  They say-"  
  
"How do you think they do it?"  Ingun interrupted. "Blisterwort?  No, not that.  Maybe thistle too?"  Karin shrugged, she had a working knowledge of poisons as an assassin but she mostly relied on knifework, ironically her alchemical expertise lay elsewhere.  Ingun on the other hand was a fanatic on the stuff, making her look like an amateur, and she didn't want to look dumb guessing.  "No, no.  It has to be bonemeal."  They'd made small talk on the way back, Ingun talking haltingly about herself, Karin not sharing much either, only telling Ingun she was a sword for hire until they'd hit on her favorite subject.    
  
"So you ever hit a guy up with deathbell?  They start moving slow and their mouth stretching out, it's the funniest thing."    
  
"That's because the blood starts coagulating right in the veins, I've thought of using it for healing, but what I'm really interested in is paralyzing agents.  I've tested on animals but human testing is still frowned on for some reason.  If I just had a live test subject..."  Once she started it was like she couldn't shut her off, Ingun was a complete poison nut.  She talked about using her alchemical talents for good, a troll attacks a young girl, and is it her dagger hand that fells it?  No, one of Ingun Black-Briar's paralyzing poisons!  You know, antivenom is made from venom too.  We can't advance medicine without advancing poison and so on.    
  
The academic stuff bored Karin to tears, but despite that she was enjoying Ingun's company immensely, not to mention she hadn't bothered to fix the rip in her bodice and every now and again she could get a peek between her breasts.  Ingun almost caught her once and Karin gave her the greasy grin in return.  Most people would recoil uneasily from it, but Ingun only smiled back.  
  
"You have a nice smile, you know that?  You must be a very cheery person."  
  
"Oh really?"  Her grin widened.  "I guess I'm just happy to have met you."  The funny thing was, she was.  She honestly liked Ingun alot.  Oh, there was the fact that she was walking with one of the hottest young things she had ever laid eyes on in awhile, and the fact that Ingun had that vulnerability, like a wounded elk that wanted to be brought down.  A little convincing, a little gentle pressure, and she thought Ingun would be willing to try an experiment of her own with Karin.  But she had to be sure, she didn't think Ingun would go in for a forceful approach like Haelga had  
  
No, what she liked best was that gleam Ingun would get in her eyes as she talked about her work.  She talked of alchemy in general like she knew her stuff, but it was when she was talking about her experiments, about organs dying and hearts exploding and brains that squirted blood, then she got that gleam and her voice came alive.  The gleam was one Karin knew, because she'd seen it in the mirror enough times.  It was the unmistakable high you got watching the light from another living creatures eyes go out, and it gave her a glow as seductive as her physical beauty.  
  
"You know, most people aren't interested in talking about these things, or they get nervous around me."  
  
"Their loss, I could listen to you talk all day."  
  
"Well this is it."  They stopped just short of the lodge and to Karin's disappointment Ingun took the time to fix the bodice.  She'd wrapped her own up for the time being with the trashed remains of her new dress.  "Come up, I'll introduce you to my mother, I'm sure she'd reward you."  
  
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea.  The thing is Ingun, I already know your mother."  
  
"You know her?"  She asked, distrust flickering in her eyes.  
  
"Well, recently.  I'm...ok look.  I'm one of your mother's hired thugs, and she doesn't like me much.  The first thing she'll want to know is why I'm out here and what I'm doing with you, and the next thing is where she can dump my cold body."  
  
"So what were you doing out here?"  
  
"I was out here gathering herbs, just like you, I've got nothing else do without that moss."  
  
"I almost forgot.  That moss you said you needed.  Is it gray and feathery?"  
  
"Yeah it is."    
  
"I have some at home.  I could give it to you if you wanted, it's the least I could do for saving my life."  Karin's face must have lit up, because Ingun's prim smile burst into full bloom.  
  
"Yes!  Thank you Ingun!"  Karin hugged the woman, trying to keep it friendly as she felt her breasts press against hers.  Today had been a good day!    
  
"Is it really as expensive as master Elgrim said?"  
  
"Yeah, unfortunately, but it's worth it."  
  
"Why's that?  
  
"I've got kind of a...secret recipe.  I call it Lightning."    
  
"What does it do?  Does it heal, speed up perception, increase stamina?"   Ingun's interest seemed piqued again, her eyes shining like stars.  How did one describe Lightning though, other than how it hit your brain like the same?  She knew she shouldn't talk about it, but she wanted to impress Ingun, and she was giving her the moss after all, after the things she'd shared pretty openly with Karin, she didn't think she'd get bent out of shape over a little skooma.    
  
"All that.  It's like if you drank everything off the shelves at Elgrim's all at once.  If you'll be there tomorrow with the moss I'll show you, I could use some help with the distilling."    
  
"You'll have to show me every step in the brewing, I always love learning a new mix!  Well...good night Karin.  Thanks again."  She gave Karin a brief hug with she returned platonically.  Her hand kept wanting to slip around Ingun's waist. " You were so cool."    
  
Karin watched her run up the road to the lodge.  Yes, it had been without a doubt a great day for her after all.  She kept trying to fit Maven's threeway in with the burgeoning friendship she now had with her daughter, but it wasn't coming together, like pieces from separate puzzles. Instead, all she could think of was Ingun.  If her mother was a vamp, what was the daughter? Ingun had talked of exploring new, darker circles, and Karin thought maybe she might have meant more than assassination.  Karin was all about exploring new horizons.  Maybe she could show Ingun her world.  Show her the many pleasurable advantages having a partner like her could also involve.    
  
It was a weird feeling, this affection for the attractive alchemist who was still so awkward and naive despite her smouldering looks.  Soaking up her admiration like a sponge and being left wanting more.  They'd had a connection, something real on the way back, she was sure of it.  Lust Karin knew, but this feeling was saccharine, yet dangerous.  Like choking on a sweet roll.  
  
"Heh.  I'd like to lick the frosting off her sweet roll."  Karin muttered, before starting the long walk back to the Bee and Barb.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Authors notes:  
  
UPDATE:  Miycko did a SFW pic of Karin, you can find it either on my Hentaifoundry profile or his Deviantart, there'll probably be one of her and Ingun once we get a little further in.  
  
Fuck the Thalmor!  Literally!  But seriously, I always whack them, it's the snottiness.  Went back and fixed chapter 1, you can't rush lesbian sex, for all I know.  I wanted to get in good with Ingun but wound up only teasing Lightning, which is hugely relevant.  Also, never wrote a real MMF scene before, so the chapter went long.  Maven's body?  Magdalene St. Michaels, but I'll discuss Skyrim textures in next chapter notes.  
  
Next chapter:  
  
So Karin and Ingun go cook for this Columbian drug lord who uses these fried chicken places as a front, meanwhile Ingun's DEA brother in law is getting suspicious and, you're right, that's  derivative.  I'll give you the 80's rundown instead, try to imagine it in Don LaFontaine's voice.  In a world...where the forces of evil threaten the innocent, one woman's fight...for justice!  Karin cooks Lightning!  Karin cleans up nice, helps a guard get their rocks off, then gets into fisticuffs!   _Chuck Norris!_ Karin blackmails Maul!  Also, we finally learn Karin's true last name, thus banishing her back to the Fifth Dimension!  This holiday season, Karin continues the quest to get into Ingun Black-Briar's pants...one bullet, er, ale at a time!  _


	3. Filler?  I Hardly Know Her!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Manufacture of Narcotics, Cockteasing, Assault, Intimidation, Threats of Rape, and of course Intoxication With Intent To commit Rape

Chapter 3: Filler? I Hardly Know Her!  
  
  
  
_I went apewire 'cause I thought_  
_Like I'd like it little tease_  
_But I didn't mean it_  
_But you mess with the goods doll, honey you gotta pay, yeah. -Pretenders_  
  
  
  
  
She called it Lightning because that's what it hit you like, that was all there was to it. Karin was an artist when it came to torture and murder, but her creativity didn't extend much beyond that. Everybody else had their own name for it. Joy juice. Sanguine's Nectar. Waynro the Cockeyed wanted to call it Froosh for some reason, but hey, fuck him in the ear. She was the only one who could cook it now, they were calling it Lightning!  
  
The brew bubbled nicely in the high pressure pot, each drop finally squeezing out the small, thin glass tube like a precious jewel. It hung pregnant for tense seconds before splashing into the bowl below, like a nude girl diving into a pool of stars. She still had five pots to go. When she had enough, she'd mix it with the rest of the ingredients, then boil that down too. After a few hours, this pile of gold she'd spent would fit in nothing more than a little flask, and be worth many times it's weight to the right people. That's not why she brewed though. Oh she had a plan to someday make it big enough to just sell Lightning, all the other little hedonists would go crazy for it and forget Skooma, but if she could, she'd be on Lightning all day, every day, and that friends was the real dream.  
  
"Why skooma?" Ingun was hovering over her shoulder. She'd opened up Elgrim's early and they'd setup the brew before Elgrim or Hafjorg woke up, dumping the skooma in first. Ingun had suggested they brew using her private setup in her bedroom and it had taken all the willpower Karin had to say no to that sweet temptation. She kept picturing Maul, or better yet Maven walking in on her screwing Ingun right in her employer's basement while the drug brewed, and funny as that was, it was just too ballsy even for her.  
  
"Moon sugar." Karin answered, still watching the drops. "You ever try skooma?" Ingun shook her head.  
  
"Good, stay off it. Seen alot of pretty girls' looks go that way." Ingun nodded a bit, missing the hint. "But what you got here is a good base. They've already done half the job distilling the moon sugar, then we're going to purify it. It's the moon sugar that makes you pop, makes you fly."  
  
"But wouldn't that much give you a heart attack?"  
  
"You get around that with the troll fat, thistle, creep cluster. Usually slows the heart. Grind it up, throw a few green herbs in there so you don't die, then you distill it again, cut it, cool it. After it-" Hafjorg walked by, and the younger women shut up in a hurry. The alchemist's wife glared at them with folded arms, Karin in particular.  
  
"Ingun, don't forget, those Falmer ears won't pickle themselves. And get that dragon's tongue in water, for goodness sake."  
  
"Yes m'aam. I was just learning a recipe on my own time, I'll skip my breaks and lunch today, this is just something-"  
  
"You‘re still our apprentice aren't you?"  
  
"Yes m'aam."  
  
"Then don't waste your time on whatever this is. There's other things to do." Ingun looked down, embarassed. "As for you..." She turned her withering look on Karin. "Here. For the ore." She gave Karin a few coins.  
  
"Ten septim." Karin said blankly, bouncing the small pile in her hands. "This'll barely cover lunch."  
  
"Don't worry. I paid the young man who actually brought me the ore. The ten is for finding him. Sending a child like that to Shor's Stone, you should be ashamed."  
  
"Hey, you got the ore didn't you? I knew the kid could handle it so I-"  
  
"I don't want to hear it. Ingun, this woman is a bad influence, you shouldn't be hanging around her." She looked disapprovingly at their setup, then shook her head when she couldn't discern what they were brewing. "Finish what you're doing, get this mess cleaned up, and then I never want to see your face around here again." She leveled a gnarled finger at Karin.  
  
"Yes m'aam." She said, mimicking Ingun's tone, the words tasting like piss in her mouth.  
  
"I've got to go for a little bit, don't jump too far ahead." Ingun squeezed Karin's arm, and her chastened eyes lit up again. "I don't want to miss anything." She went to work the counter, leaving Karin alone with Hafjorg. She was hovering over her, trying to pressure her to hurry up and leave, but Karin wasn't going anywhere. She'd gotten what she wanted from Elgrim's. Maybe more she thought, remembering Ingun's studious expression, the mauve lips pursed in concentration. Ingun was picking it up alot faster than she had, fascinated with the bits of alchemical lore, asking questions Karin had never even thought of. Hafjorg was still right behind her, so Karin ignored her, stirring the mix while she waited for Ingun.  
  
She remembered the first time she tried Lightning. Her senses heightened, the feel of each individual air molecule on her skin a lover's caress, each groove in the stone wall, endlessly interconnected with eachother, endlessly fascinating and her mind so much pudding. Emerens had been trying to get in her pants for years, passing his advances off as little jokes knowing that if he ever put a hand on Karin he'd lose it. He was scraggly, bald, toothless, with terrible body odor. On Lightning, he'd been almost bearable, that's how powerful it was. That first time he'd felt up her tits and got his grubby hands into her pants but passed out from too much to drink before getting much farther while Karin was busy marveling at her own fingertips. Later, she fucked him for the recipe, she'd insisted she be on Lightning when they did it. It hadn't done much to put her back on men.  
  
Yeah, good old Emerens, leader of bandits, pillager, killer, rapist, role model. He took Karin under his wing, taught her to read, made her his second in command. She was the youngest, the meanest, and if anyone asked, the prettiest too. Depraved to begin with and quick with a knife from hanging around filthy men with no impulse control, she was the obvious choice, and the power she had within the gang and over their victims just warped her further. She was also the only one other than Emerens smart enough to follow the notes, without brewing something that'd make them all blind. Emerens wasn't stupid like the others, who couldn’t understand why anybody would steal books, but he‘d had enough sense to realize what he had in his hot little hands on.  
  
Poor Emerens. Lightning was great, but wasn't something you did when making life decisions. He took too much and got it into his head that he was going to beat up a giant bare handed. He got kicked so hard they never did find the body. It had been funny as hell watching him sail off into the sky but sort of sad at the same time. Sure he treated her like a pet viper that might bite at any time, but he was as close to family as she'd had. Just like Karin's real father, drunk or drugged up half the time, and the other half trying to feel her up. The gang fell apart soon after, nobody cared about anything except their next fix. You'd think it would have been a great setup, but being the only cook for a bunch of junkies who were murderous psychopaths when they were sober? That was a knife in her guts waiting to happen. Karin had just finished boiling down the Jazbay when Ingun sat back down beside her. Karin looked around to see that Hafjorg had finally moved on.  
  
"Fastest I've ever worked." Ingun said, wiping sweat from her brow, then whispered. "Do you think she knows?"  
  
"No way, she has no clue. Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to get out of here for a couple hours, let things cool down a little."  
  
"You can't go now, we haven't finished!" Ingun clutched her shoulder and Karin gave the hand a cool look. Ingun's eyes were a little frenzied, so that's what that feels like being on the other end of that she thought. She didn’t like being grabbed, but then again, it was Ingun . "I mean, I really want to see the rest. Shouldn't we finish this batch?" .  
  
"You're really into this aren't you?" She was simultaneously pleased at the interest and the touch, and Ingun nodded, roses blooming in her cheeks. "We've already done the hard stuff, just keep stirring, and don't let it boil over."  
  
"That's it?" She said doubtfully.  
  
"Well we've got to cool it and throw a few things in at the end, but I'll be back for that. Just keep stirring every now and again, change the bowls and we'll get the rest tonight. Oh yeah, and put the Jazbay in, use batches of three, don't just dump it all in."  
  
"Why not stay and help? I'm afraid I'll mess it up."  
  
"Listen Ingun, don't worry, you've got it, you're a natural. If I can do this you sure as hell can. Now I gotta go."  
  
"But-"  
  
"I've got a thing, I'll be back before closing, I promise." Ingun was close enough to kiss, but Elgrims wasn't the place and it was a bit too soon. No, take your time, don't screw this up like you always do, you've got something she wants, and she sure has something you want she thought as she eyed Ingun's smooth neck. When Karin was outside Elgrim's, she leaned against the door and let herself slide down, heart racing a little. Ingun's love of alchemy was an easy in for Karin, all she had to share it with were those two old bats in there, and she was pretty sure Hafjorg didn’t want her around her husband for the obvious. So it was no wonder she’d clung to Karin, but she'd sort that out once she had the Lightning safely brewed and this job out of the way. She reached into her pocket, feeling the septim. This was going to take a big chunk. She strode into the salon she'd seen the first day and sat down in the chair, the same Dunmer woman that sold her the makeup was there.  
  
"Back again? Did you like the makeup?"  
  
"Yeah, but I've got to go to the keep today, I've got to look good. I want you to do my makeup and my hair." Karin knew what makeup looked good on her but had no clue at all about putting it on, the last time she'd tried she'd come out looking like an insane clown. She brushed the curtain of messy hair out of her eye. "Do something about this. Make me look all, I don't know. Respectable. In fact, I want to look like a completely different woman when I step out of here."  
  
"What kind of look did you want to go for?"  
  
"Make me look like Elisif the Fair." A big grin broke across Karin's face and then faded just as quick as she looked at the other woman's bright yellow hair. "But don't you dare dye or cut my hair!"  
  
"I'll try." The skeptical Dunmer said. Karin leaned back, closed her eyes and relaxed, enjoying the woman's fingers as they worked her hair and face. She'd have to remember these moves when she went to work properly seducing Ingun. Soon enough, she thought.  
  
  
  
  
"So what was this skooma dealer's name?" Anuriel asked.  
  
"Ele...ele-uh. Eleedal-Lan...Nagtius?" Karin finally spat out, half asking. Most Argonian names sounded like fucking word soup to her, but she'd got it close enough. She probably could have given them any fake name, and should have, but Karin had it in her head maybe giving one they might have heard would earn some trust.  She was dead wrong, and she knew it when the steward's face clouded over and the guards stiffened.  
  
She'd gotten some looks when she'd rolled into the keep, but the attention she was getting now had nothing to do with her appearance. Just because people weren't knifing eachother for skooma right out in the streets didn't mean Riften wasn't rotting with corruption top to bottom. The big fish kept the little fish in line, took their cut, and made a few show arrests for the normals, but you didn't step on business. If you stepped on business, there was no cut, and it was clear that's what she was doing with her counterfeit concerned citizen act.  
  
It was a good one too. Karin found if she spoke quietly, said the opposite of whatever she was thinking, and kept her face nice and dead she could do a pretty good impression of a normal. Wearing eye shadow, with her lashes thickened, makeup covering her small scars and her ratty black hair tamed back into dark sculpted waves she was not just unrecognizable but fairly attractive, maybe a shop keeper or a bar maid somewhere higher end than the slophouse inn she was staying at.  
  
"What did you say your name was again? And what were you doing down at the docks?" Anuriel asked, but the bored disregard had been replaced with a dangerous interest. The guards were also trying their hardest to look like they weren't watching like hawks, giving themselves away, and Karin wiped her brow.  
  
"Uh...Martine." She felt Anuriel and her guards' eyes boring into her, willing her to say something they could bust her for and then maybe they'd kick the shit out of her as a warning if she was lucky. Karin felt naked without her dagger at her hip and her hair in her eye, and it didn't look like she could push much further with this story. Throwing Eleedal to the wolves had got her in the door, but now they were all giving her the hairy eyeball and that she didn't need, disguised or not.  
  
"Well? Cat got your tongue?" The steward asked, irritated. "What about the skooma?"  
  
"Yes, what about the skooma?" Anuriel's expression turned to one of comical surprise, and the guards seemed to genuinely lose interest in a hurry as Karin turned around to see it was Laila Law-Giver herself come to her rescue. Karin was a little too surprised to say anything as they took the moment to size eachother up, to Laila Karin must have just been another faceless peon. She hadn't gotten this close to her target in awhile, usually soon as they saw Karin she carved them up first, no time for pleasantries. Laila had blue eyes and auburn hair swept back under the silver circlet marking her as Jarl of Riften. Mid 40's from the look, pretty once, probably younger than Maven but she lacked the evil bitch immortality and was fraying a bit at the edges. Her dress alone was probably worth more than Karin's advance for this job.  
  
“This person was just reporting a possible skooma dealer in the city.“ Anuriel said hastily. “It's probably nothing Jarl, I'll handle it.“  
  
“Mmm, see that you do. And what is your name young woman?“  
  
“Martine.“ She curtsied, thinking of clowns and Laila nodded.  
  
“Thank you for your information on these skooma dealers. We're finally getting them under control now, but it's important not to let up the pressure.“ Karin nodded in grave agreement, but a laugh threatened to spill over her lips. Holy shit, Laila was clueless and thick as mammoth dung! This was probably the easiest hold Karin had ever bought skooma in. It was pretty clear Anuriel was cutting herself a slice and keeping the Jarl blissfully stupid as she was. "I take all news of skooma dealing very seriously. It destroys lives, I hate drugs."  
  
"Oh," Karin said "Me too.“  
  
“Yes, well, we appreciate your help. If your information is good, Anuriel will see that you're well rewarded.“  
  
“Oh no, no! No reward necessary but I was hoping...“ She trailed off and Laila raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Go on.“  
  
“You know, I'm a great admirer of her Jarlship. I'm just a simple, uh, baker, and I always wondered...what does her Jarlship's room look like? It must be elegant. I'd be forever grateful if I could see inside, just once, and see how a Jarl lives, only for a second.“ Laila gave her a quizzical look.  
  
“Sorry, that's quite impossible, although I appreciate the compliment. Well, I'll leave you in Anuriel's hands, good day.“ She toddled off and Anuriel leaned in, her eyes still on the Jarl's fine fur clad back.  
  
“We'll be sure to talk to Eleedal, at length, and find out what really happened. Be sure and come back later for your 'reward'.“ Her voice was quiet, cultured, but Karin heard the implicit threat just fine. They were inches away, and Karin let the grin bloom on her face like a poison flower, just long enough for Anuriel to see and take a step back. Then it was gone again like it had never been.  
  
“Don't think I won't. Thanks for your time.“ She said demurely and pushed past the silent steward.  
  
  
  
  
She walked back, trying to work out the problem. This whole idea had been pretty stupid now that she thought on it. Sure, she'd seen the main hall, even caught a look at Laila, but had she really expected to get farther than that? "Never had to kill a Jarl before before, never know till you try." She muttered. It wasn't like she could go in the front anyway. After she'd made herself look so good, it had turned into nothing but an expensive excuse to maybe impress Ingun and...and...  
  
She stopped in her tracks, head turning at the laughter of a group of guards. There was five of them, all men. She didn't like men. Emerens had colored alot of her experiences, she'd slept with two others, one as an experiment and another to get out of jail and that was it. She wasn't pretty enough to rely on sex appeal but in tight spots it sometimes worked on horny morons.  
  
Men were so easy, she thought as she watched them chat, sizing them up, getting a feel for their pecking order. She could have gone out tonight and picked one up in an hour tops. A gangbang could have been arranged in two. Maybe that's why they didn't interest her, no challenge, not to mention the smell. Women were much tougher, especially where Karin was concerned, but she had an athetic body in her favor and she could be intensely persuasive.  
  
So why not? It wasn't like she had to go all the way, and there was no better day for it. Her hair was shiny and brushed up into a different style, and the dress she'd taken from Haelga accented her small bust into what looked like a nice C-cup. History's greatest lie she smirked. Being filthy was her true self, cleaned up was the real disguise. She settled on the one with brown hair because he was the youngest and from his mannerisms he was the baby trying to fit in with the group. Set to her purpose, Karin smoothed the dress down and strode up to them with a sultry step.  
  
"Hey there." She said, and they turned to look at the newcomer.  
  
"Well hello there. What can we do for you miss?"  
  
"Actually, I wanted to borrow your friend here for a little bit." She was looking directly at her target. "I was hoping he and I could have a little private conversation." They stared at Karin, and then wolfs grins broke out all around the younger guard who only blinked foolishly.  
  
"Thought you were getting married soon?" One of the guards chuckled, and there were a few winks all around.  
  
"You sly dog, was it you Jonah?"  
  
"Well I didn't pay for her! C'mon, let's leave Baird and his girlfriend alone, you've got to tell us all about it later you lucky bastard."  
  
"Yeah..." Baird said, he was so red he looked about ready to combust. "Well, what can I help with you miss...?"  
  
"Viola. So, getting married eh?"  
  
"Oh, next month."  
  
"Why aren't you wearing your amulet of Mara there Baird?"  
  
"It just...chafes under my armor sometimes, that's all. Now can I help you?"  
  
"Well wouldn't want you chafing. You know, fooling around before marriage, getting it all out is one thing, everybody understands that, but once you're married, people are alot less sympathetic. Then you got to have the same woman the rest of your life. Like eating the same food every single meal."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"What I mean is, I got a bet with a lady in town. She bet me 100 septim I couldn't make love to a man in the Jarl's bed."  
  
"You want to make love in the Jarl's bed?" Karin leaned in and Baird looked like he wanted to back up as she looked up at him with playful eyes. His fear amused her. Yeah, she'd called this one, he might even be a virgin.  
  
"You're right, that sounds sappy. Fuck like rabbits is what I meant."  
  
"What's that have to do with me?"  
  
"You're the bet. You're my...type." She'd picked Baird because he was the smoothest, most fresh faced, he might be able to pass for a woman if you slapped enough makeup on him. She guessed if she was straight, she'd go for a guy like this, but bent as she was, she'd take as close to another woman as she could get.  
  
Karin looked around to see if anybody was looking directly at them, then kissed him roughly, brushing her chest up against his. She felt him gasp against her mouth, his hands hung suspended at either side while he struggled with whether to push her off or pull her close. He was paralyzed, so she took the opportunity to let one hand slide down his belly and into his pants as she stroked his cheek with the other. There was a whisper of stubble against her skin and she sighed, but in disappointment. She had been hoping he was smooth. He still wasn't moving, but Karin felt his body loosening, and the lips pressed back against hers now. She let her tongue flit inside his mouth, and now his entangled with hers as one of his hands dropped, then tentatively touched the small of her back before sliding down and finding one of her asscheeks.  
  
"Oh yeah baby, right there." She lied, and snaked her hips back and forth convincingly. Her slim fingers made their way down and she let them walk across the groin to his shaft, unsurprised to find him already stiffening. "Oh!" She cooed, then wrapped her hand around it and gave it few strokes. He began to thrust his hips in time with her hand, and she quickened her pace.  
  
"Ohhh." He grunted, and abruptly grabbed Karin by her waist and slammed her against the wall.  
  
"Hey, hey slow down!" She cried hoarsely, he was already up against her, kissing and thrusting desperately, the bulge in his pants pressing incessantly against her leg like a small poker. "Baird. Stop." Her voice was cold and he pulled back, panting. He was breathing hard and there was a bead of sweat on his neck. "We can't do it out here in front of everybody. Let's go up to the Jarl's room."  
  
"But it'll be my job if-" Karin put a finger on his lips to silence him, then put it in her own and began to suck on it thoughtfully. Her insane eyes twinkled up at him.  
  
"Think about it.  The two of us rolling around in the Jarl's bed, me licking you in places your wife will never touch. Memories like that'll last a lifetime." She placed her hands on the guard's chest and looked up with what she hoped was an appropriately steamy look. He looked increasingly unsure, she could see the rational part of his brain arguing with the part that wanted to jump Karin and tear her clothes off.  
  
"I'm sorry, I just can't. We can go to the inn and-"  
  
"And lose the bet? You think I"m some cheap whore? I'm not going to spread out for you on anything less than a Jarl's bed.  
  
"It's not worth it." He shook his head and she bit down on the emerging grin. The true mark always convinces themself she thought, but maybe a little push.  
  
"Wrong, it would be totally worth it. You think that handjob is all I could do? Feel this muscle." She put his hand on her small coiled bicep, then moved it down to the toned leg. His hand moved with hers, appreciating the leg like it was a musuem piece. "My whole body is firm like that. Hard." She emphasized the word. "I could fuck you clear into the floor little boy."  
  
"They'd crucify me!"  
  
"You're a guard, anybody asks you're just doing a security check right?" She nibbled his ear and he trembled like a leaf. "You can put it to me and then I'll put it to you. The Jarl's room. Come on, I'm getting hot just thinking about it. We'll break that bed." Her hand caressed the bulge, and squeezed gently and he released a hot breath on her neck. His resistance crumbled and he grabbed her hand.  
  
"Come on, this way." He led Karin around the side of the keep, to a plain, unobtrusive door. He opened it, peaked inside, then quickly waved Karin inside. She quietly closed the door behind them and took an unbelieving look around.  
  
"This is the fucking guard's barracks." She hissed at him.  
  
"Don't worry, nobody will notice. Just come on quick." He led her quickly past the rows of cots and up the stairs. There were only two snoring guards, on the next floor there was another with his back to them fiddling with his gear. Nobody even glanced at them as Karin memorized the layout, her grin getting wider and wider. They walked quickly through narrow hallways, past a few empty open rooms she could duck easily into on her way up. There were guards but they looked to be a bunch of lazy corrupt bastards. They were all in the front, the suite of rooms upstairs for the Jarl and her sons were completely deserted. "Keep a lookout behind us." He fiddled with his keys, and in a moment they were in Laila Law-Giver's bedroom. "So is this good enough?"  
  
"Not bad." Karin whistled softly, and Baird jerked her wrist towards the bed. "Hold on damn it. " She rubbed the spot where he'd squeezed. "We're going to do it, just give me a second to appreciate it, helps get me in the mood." She walked around, cataloguing what was worth taking later. Fine tapestries, furniture, a bed that looked big enough for an orgy. Karin stepped out onto the balcony, the only other way out of the room, and looked out over the edge into the courtyard. Too exposed to scale and way too high up to jump even on Lightning, but she could use a rope to drop down after if she was fast.  
  
"Are we going to do this or what?" Baird asked, and now he sounded a bit angry and she rolled her eyes. She guessed if she could get this guy off real quick he'd leave her alone now that she had what she needed, so she smiled up at him as she reached down and pulled him by his stick over to the bed. He had no choice but to follow and she sat him down and undid his pants.  
  
"How about we finish what I started down there?"  
  
His long member sprang free and she wrapped her fingers around the base and began stroking slowly, and the guard laid back, letting her work. She didn't have alot of experience with this kind of thing, so she used a variation on her knife trick, flicking her wrist as her fingers danced over his member and Baird groaned.  
  
"That's amazing. You really like my cock?"  
  
"I've never seen one so big." Karin smiled, gradually speeding up and letting friction stimulate him as he lay back again. Well, technically it wasn't a lie. Man, this wasn't easy. The flitting strokes increased and she caught the pink head between her nimble fingers and gave a soft twist for a split second.  
  
"Yes, just like that! I'm going to cum soon!"  
  
"I definitely hope so." She jerked his cock harder now, losing her patience, and he recoiled from her, trying to pull away but she wouldn't let go and jacked him furiously.  
  
"Ahh!  Divines!"  His face strained and she felt the telltale pulse and his seed erupted straight up in a geyser, Karin had to stop and admire the distance she got out of him. Even though it didn't do anything for her she felt a weird pride at getting him off as it coated her hand with sticky heat.  
  
"Well thanks for your help, I'll be sure and tell all my friends you were the best I ever had." She wiped her hand off on the side of the bed and was just turning to go when he felt her hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Where do you think you're going? You think I'm happy with just a handjob?  
  
"Wha...you sure seemed happy a second ago."  
  
"I took alot of risk taking you up here, you promised me more."  
  
"Listen, why don't you settle-" He sprang at Karin, pressing his mouth over hers and cutting her off. He was heavy, and all she could do was fall back into the bed with him on top of her. He roughly tore her bodice open, taking in her pale breasts for a moment before fitting one in his mouth and sucking hard. She gasped, and squirmed trying to get him off. "I told you I'm done, get off!" His mouth moved to her other nipple, slurping on it before biting. Now his hand was between her smooth thighs, slipping inside her panties and seeking her slit, but his thick, clumsy fingers fumbled trying to get inside. "Shit, ouch!"  
  
"You're still not wet yet?" He asked unbelieving as his thumb pushed her clit too hard and she winced. "What?" He asked getting frustrated. "You're telling me that hurts?"  
  
"Yes damn it, it hurts. I don't want this anymore!" He actually tore the panties off her, Karin heard the fabric rip loudly, and then she was exposed down there.  
  
"You dumb damned bastard!" He held up the remnants in her face.  
  
"Purple underwear. Even I know what that means. Who do you think you're kidding, you're a pro." Shit, she was busted. She'd stolen the lacey underwear from Haelga her first night in town. Karin closed her eyes and thrust out her chin. "Use your tongue if you have to then."  
  
She spread herself in front of Baird to give him easier access while she tried to think how to escape. This was why she didn't go for guys, she couldn't really be the dominant one unless they let her. She'd really screwed up yet again, misreading him as a virgin she could push around but a fresh faced guard was still a guard and he was one of those wound tight enough to pop types. If she didn't get out of this he would pop all over her.  
  
His tongue was stubby, which to her was worse than a small dick, but he finally managed to get the tip insider her and now she felt dim pleasure. Karin closed her eyes and tried to imagine Ingun, Haelga, hell, even Maven. Now she was finally getting moist, and she got a little revenge by rubbing her pussy hard against his mouth and nose, getting his face nice and sloppy. Her nipples hardened, it did more for her seeing him sputter down there than anything he'd done thus far and she laughed as he came up for air. Her quim was all over him, but instead he grinned like a shark.  
  
"Dirty girl, I think it's time you stopped teasing." He drove against her, he was still too damned heavy to push off, and then she felt his tip pushing hard between her folds, trying to force itself inside her.  
  
"Get off! Get off!" She screeched and then reached down between them and squeezed his balls, hard.  
  
"Gahh!" He yelped. "You bitch!" He breathed as they glared at eachother, then abruptly he grinned again. "Do it again!" He was already pressing against her again and she clenched as tightly as she could to keep him out.  
  
"Oh damn..." Karin whined. No helping it, she wasn't going to fuck this guy, she was going to have to get really rough. She took a firm hold, ready to tear it off for him when the door creaked open.  
  
"What's this? What are you doing?!" The female guard yelled and Baird finally rolled off her, trying to cover himself with both hands as his pants went around his ankles.  
  
"Captain! It's not what you-"  
  
"Thank god you're here! He told me he just wanted to show me around the keep, so I went with him, and...and..." Karin fluttered her eyes rapidly, that was the trick to fake tears and Baird roared and lunged at her.  
  
"You lying, conniving, four legged little slutdog!" Karin rolled off the bed out of reach and Baird tripped and fell on the floor.  
  
"He tried to rape me!" Karin cried, covering her bare breasts for effect and Baird clawed at her as he half got up before falling over again.  
  
"Restrain yourself you sick son of a bitch! When Anuriel hears about this I'll have you outside the wall playing with the trolls. Get up!" The captain intercepted Baird before he could finish pulling up his pants and Karin took that as her cue to leave in a hurry, running out of the room sobbing. The instant she was down the hall she stopped, retied the bustier and smoothed her dress again, and walked quickly back down the hall like she had somewhere to be. Out the barracks and back out of the keep. A few people might have looked at her, but she just kept going like she had every right to be there and nobody stopped her. She spared a look back at Mistveil and as she watched she saw a small piece of furniture fly from the Jarl's balcony, followed by a vase which shattered on the cobbles. Two guards looked at eachother and ran into the keep. Well, that could have gone better. Karin coifed her hair and smoothed Haelga's frilly, cleavage enhancing dress, a little used from Baird's handling but still serviceable.. This getup really worked, maybe Ingun would appreciate the view.  
  
  
  
As she walked down the street, a guard leaning against the wall glanced up.  
  
"Hello there Karin." She was startled, she barely recognized herself made up, but she ignored him, walking a little quicker, and from around the corner two more guards appeared.  
  
"Excuse me." Karin said looking down and changing directions in a hurry. She glanced around before ducking down an alley. Damn, had that dickless guard already sicked his buddies on her? Or was this Anuriel maybe? Karin walked quickly, looking back every few seconds when she walked right into a hard chain-mailed chest and sat down hard.  
  
"Feisty." A guard was looking down at her, arms crossed, from Karin's perspective he seemed gigantic.  
  
"Well look who we have here. Told you that was her." She got up and turned to see the two guards from before, blocking the way she'd come.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, you must have me confused with someone else." She said primly, struggling to keep the characteristic sneer off her features and voice. “Now if you'll excuse me.“ The guard laughed.  
  
"Could you lay it on any thicker? Oh I bet that act fooled the rest, but I got a really close look at you before girlie. We clear?"  
  
"Nobody's around." The third guard said. "You sure this is her? This fine thing?"  
  
"Hard to tell when she's not dipped in shit isn't it? Well we'll fix that." Karin turned to face the ringleader, she could deal with one quicker than two, but there wasn't much room to move around here. "It's her, I'd know those weird eyes anywhere. That's Karin Frost-Fang. Also known as Smiling Karin, also known as Crazy Karin."  
  
"That's spelled with two K's." Karin said, reverting to her normal voice and letting her body untense and her hands drop to her sides. The little grin popped out like vampire fangs and then faded again when she realized she was unarmed. Normally she'd have a knife but she didn't know if she'd be searched at the keep.  
  
"You know why they call her that?" She could hear the smile underneath his helmet, his voice was kind of familiar.  
  
"Because I'm fucking crazy?"  
  
"Because you're a sick, depraved little psycho bitch. All those bounties, no wonder you had to run all the way to Riften. Yeah, I heard the stories."  
  
"You heard the one about the three guards who's lungs I tore out?" They laughed again. She was dolled up to seduce, not fight, but somehow she had to contrive to still be threatening. If she had a blade, any blade on her she could make do but it would be tough fighting these mooks even with the orc dagger.  
  
"You couldn't take us, and the other guards won't take kindly to a slag like you resisting arrest." The guard behind her cracked his knuckles. "So why don't you take your beating and call yourself lucky? Or maybe you'd like a nice gang fuck?"  
  
“Not this one. She's not into us.“  
  
“All the more reason!“ The third one chimed.  
  
“Well she wasn't much to look at last time, but this time maybe...“ The other voice finally clicked for Karin.  
  
"Now I remember, you were that guard with the shriveled balls! Sorry I didn't recognize you before, those piss bucket helmets make you all look the same. Guess you're in love with me now, going to the trouble of learning my life story and all. So what do you think Maven is going to make of this?"  
  
"Not much. We're just going to rough you up. Long as you can limp you can do your job for Maven right? Afterwards you're ours to play with.“  
  
"Guess the guards'll feel the same way if I rip your dick off and shove it up your ass maybe? I mean, its not like you use it to shake rubes down at the gate. Now are you going to get out of my way or do I get nasty?" The two behind her laughed again. They were all taller than her, and heavily muscled from the look.  
  
"What are you going to do if we don't?"  
  
"Kiss you right on the mouth." They were quiet for a beat, and then another laugh. "Or I could just pull your insides out."  
  
“Let's just beat this wench and be done." They started closing in on her then, helmets blank and impersonal, and Karin twitched, looking for an opening to run around them but the alley was too narrow.  
  
“Come on guys, I was just playing before.“ She held up her hands in surrender, and when one of them took a sloppy swing at her, she jigged easily out of the way and swung her knee into his stomach, hearing the satisfying sound of wind being knocked out of him. Karin moved with a jerky, spastic cadence that drew the eye before she counterpunched his swing, but it barely fazed him and the next one caught her in the mouth.  
  
“Feh!“ She licked the blood from her lip and winced a little as she felt where he'd split it for her. This was getting bad, they still had her boxed in. Looked like they were planning on beating the shit out of her after all, and if they got it into their heads to use those shields she'd be lucky to walk again. There wasn't any money or sex in this for her, so time to fly. Karin tried to duck around and escape when one of their foots tripped her and she pitched face first into the alley. She felt her teeth rattle as the cobbles smashed her right in the chin.  
  
“You alright?“  
  
“Yeah, these alleys can get slippery. Stick around Karin, you're not going anywhere till we say.“ There was more nasty laughter as she picked herself up. Haelga's dress was caked in street filth, it had been ground in real good, and that hurt worse than her face.  
  
“You pig fuckers!“ She shouted, getting back up, for the moment forgetting escape. She came at them fast, a compact, psychotic female projectile, she couldn't see their faces but from their body language they went from self satisfaction to surprise in the two seconds it took her to close the distance. She got the first one the worst with a running wind up kick right to the balls and he sank with a drawn out groan. The next one she elbowed across the head hard as she could, before jamming her fist in his kidneys again and again. She was just turning on the other when his hard fist slammed across her head like a meteor strike. Her vision doubled, her head span, and she dodged the next one only out of instinct. The guard finally came back into focus grudgingly, and the next four strikes didn't come close to touching her. She ducked and weaved, hoping she was making the guard feel as stupid as he looked.  
  
“You're boring the hell out of me here. Your mama teach you how to-“ A foot slammed her spine, and Karin forgot the rest as she pitched forward and managed to catch herself. The other two were already getting back up, she couldn't do much damage to them bare handed. They were slower than her on their best day, and the armor was weighing them down. Then again, she hadn't cut Haelga's dress to free up her legs and she stepped on the hem. She stumbled, the bottom straining, and the fabric tore. The guard in front stopped in mid swing thinking he was about to get a peep show when she launched herself at him. She didn't weigh much but the impact was enough to knock him over. They clattered noisily to the ground, the landing knocking the wind out of both of them. She had no sooner pulled back her fist to lay into him when she was grabbed by the hair and yanked hard. She yelped in pain as hair threatened to tear out of her scalp and then she was dragged backwards. Her old friend the pavement was almost a mercy when she flew to meet it.  
  
It was over fast from there, once they had her down the kicks seemed to rain from every direction at once. All Karin could do was fantasize about what she'd have done if she had a knife, as she tried her best to avoid flying boots. Finally they stopped, more out of exhaustion than mercy.  
  
“I think she's learned her place now.“  
  
“What? I still owe her for that last nut shot. In fact, I'd say I owe her two or three nut shots, what do you think?“  
  
“Well let me know when the guy who's going to give them to me shows up, you cheap, impotent little cocksucking-“. Another kick in Karin's side, and she doubled up in pain and coughed.  
  
“You have anything else to say?“  
  
“Yeah." She groaned. "When you three blow eachother, do you take your helmets off?“ He kicked her again in the ribs and this time she couldn't talk as she gasped for air.  
  
“Funny. Yeah, I thought you were done. Wow, nice, you see that?" The guard was gesturing at her to the others and Karin realized in a panic that she wasn't wearing any panties. Baird had torn them off her back at Mistveil. From this angle with her dress flipped over her they had a direct view of her bare ass and everything else. "Don't worry, I'm not into fucking someone else in a pool of their own blood like you Karin. Once we've had our fill of you, then we'll pick up where we left off.“ Over her own groans, Karin could hear the soft jingle of a belt buckle being undone. She was hurting but she thought she had it in her for one last swing so she steeled herself when a familiar voice jolted her.  
  
“What are you doing?“ The guards turned guiltily, one stepped in front of his friend as her would-be rapist did his belt back up as discreetly as possible.  
  
“Move along before we arrest you woman!“  
  
“Hmmm. I think you'd better.“ The woman said quietly.  
  
“Get that stupid bitch out of here, I've got this one.“ The leader jerked his head in the shadows direction and the two guards made it half way to the figure and stopped. “What's the problem? Get her out of here or I'll-“  
  
“You'll what?“ The figure stepped out of the shadow, it was Ingun, and to Karin at that moment she looked just like an angel.  
  
“Miss Black-Briar!“ The guard had gone from aggressive authoritarian to nervous politeness as he backed away a step. “You shouldn't be here!“  
  
“Really? I think I showed up in just the right place.“  
  
“You don't understand. This slag's name is Karin, she's a monster and she's-“  
  
"My good friend and one of my mother's trusted associates. Now what's your name?" Even though her voice was weirdly calm and disconnected there was a tinge of Maven in it. The guards looked at eachother and began to walk away in a hurry. "Hey! Hey! I want to know your name! Who's your captain?" She shouted after them as they shuffled off, heads down like they had urgent business elsewhere. The first thing Karin saw were the guileless hazel eyes as Ingun helped her up, she spat blood and hoped they hadn't marked her up too bad.  
  
"Bastards." The alchemist breathed as she looked her over, and Karin thought, Ingun, I love you. Her euphoria soon turned to black anger as she looked down at herself. After all the money she'd spent, she was filthier now than ever. The dress, the nice one too, was scuffed, ripped, smeared with dirt from the cobblestone, and had spots of her blood all over it. So much for showing off in front of Ingun.  
  
"Thanks." Karin managed. "You shouldn't have mentioned your mother's name though."  
  
"They were beating you up."  
  
“Yeah, well I could have taken any two of them easy, they just caught me in the wrong place.“  
  
“No need to justify yourself, I don't think most women I've met could have fought one of them, let alone three.“ Karin felt her cheeks grow a little hot, but she hurt all over and even that made her wince. Ingun touched the side of her head, eliciting another.  
  
“Are you ok?“  
  
"Yeah, just sore. Damn, and I liked this dress too! How bad is it?" Ingun squinted, examining both sides of Karin's face.  
  
"It's not too bad, a little water and blue dartwing and you'll be fine. Why were you all dressed up?"  
  
"Well I had a social engagement I couldn't get out of, then those bastards grabbed my ass and tried to put moves on me, can you believe that?"  
  
"It's not easy being attractive in Skyrim."  
  
"Don't I know. It was amazing how fast you backed them off." Karin said, impressed that the girl had some hard bark on her as well.  
  
“The Lightning's almost done, I wasn't sure if you were coming back so I went looking for you. Maybe you could check my work?“  
  
“Sure, sure. Then maybe later tonight I could...pay you back for your help.“  
  
“It was my pleasure. What did you have in mind?“  
  
“You ever play a drinking game?“  
  
“I don't really, ah, drink. How do you play?“  
  
“You buy ten ales and if you make them disappear, you win.“  
  
“I don't think that's really for me.“  
  
“C'mon, after that beating I definitely need a drink, and I hate drinking alone. I'll pay for it, what do you say?“ Karin grabbed Ingun's shoulder, gave her the big grin. Ingun looked at the squeezing fingers and then back up to the whirling eyes and exhaled, trying on a shaky smile.  
  
“Maybe just one.“  
  
  
  
"So then I says, liquor? I barely know her!" Ingun coughed and Karin slapped her on the back, causing her to spit ale, and then fresh peels of laughter. Ingun was a happy drunk, the best kind. She'd started on wine but after some bullying Karin had her pounding ales. Gradually, the distracted, intense way Ingun talked had softened and slurred as she'd loosened up. It was slow going, you couldn't push a lightweight like her too fast or she'd puke. She was still pretty naive though, pretty well ass over tit by now, and maybe in another drink or two Karin could make that more than a turn of phrase.  
  
"Here, try this, it's the good stuff." She poured Ingun a shot of her Cliff Racer. Ingun took a sip and immediately spit it out.  
  
"Ah! Burns my tongue!"  
  
"Stop wasting it! Yeah, why don't you give that back? Guess it's ale for you, this stuffs expensive." She hoped she'd get Ingun in the sack soon, she was completely broke now. Again.  
  
"Thanks for taking me out." Ingun slurred, then shook her head. "I don't normally get out of the shop, my work is just too...important." She put her ale down too hard on the counter, spilling foam. "Nobody invites me out." She waved the ale in a wide circle, indicating the whole bar. "People barely talk to me, they're afraid."  
  
"Because of your mother?"  
  
"Because of my experiments. I know they whisper." She took another swig.  
  
"Do you get...lonely?" Karin tried to keep the hope out of her voice.  
  
"Just sometimes."  
  
"Well don't pay it any mind Ingun, you don't need those twits if they don't appreciate your talents the way I do." Karin said while slyly eyeing her "talents." So what if she was as creepy as she was hot and her mother was a vicious crime boss? Ingun clearly was in need of some loving and Riften's loss was Karin's gain. "Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make breakfast right?"  
  
"Exactly! I wish people were...whoa!" She swayed dangerously on the stool and Karin steadied her. "As smart as you!" Ingun's vocabulary had been steadily declining after the third ale, and Karin had starting stealing touches here and there. "Even mother doesn't understand, I'll talk about my work at dinner and she'll just ignore me like I never said anything! There's got to be other people who understand my work! Maybe Solitude, I just don't know if I would fit in there."  
  
"Fitting in is overrated, trust me. Society is just a buncha closet freak strangers telling you what you oughta do and think. I do what I want when I want, I say if it feels good, do it. You should get out of this hole and find some more broad minded types like myself who appreciate the finer points of poison." She eyed Ingun's nearly empty ale with a grin.  
  
"You're right! I've tried fitting in and wheres it got me?" She was swooning in her seat and Karin toasted her. "Bottoms up."  
  
"With any luck." She replied, picturing Ingun's bare cheeks, hers to play with as the other woman lay comatose in drunken slumber. They finished their drinks at a gulp and Karin wiped the foam off her own mouth.  
  
"If only I knew someone."  
  
"Well you do. If you're serious I could help you get setup somewhere. I've been all over."  
  
"That would be...be great." Ingun belched, made a strange little giggle and almost pitched off the stool again before Karin caught her. "It's getting kind of late, maybe I should, urp, get home."  
  
"No, no, you don't run out on me that easy. You said nobody ever takes you out, so I'm taking you out. How about another drink?"  
  
"Oh, no, no more. Feels like I could sleep right here on the bar. Think I'll go home."  
  
"C'mon, your house is all the way up the street, I've got a room right here, you can sleep it off, and I'll find out if you taste as good as you look."  
  
"I guess I could use a nap." Her brow furrowed. "Wait, what?"  
  
"I said I can tell by your look you've got alot of taste. Come on, lean on me now, there's a good girl." Karin had to take most of her weight to keep Ingun from falling over as she got slung her over her shoulder, but she didn't mind. Without being subtle about it, she nuzzled up against Ingun's neck, smelling her skin and giving it a light nibble. She also gave her side a squeeze, and Ingun giggled softly in reaction, she was still wobbly and Karin found a little more strength to carry her. She was ready, all Karin had to do was get the beautiful alchemist up the stairs and she'd be able to part the gates of heaven and taste the sweet nectar within.  
  
“Well what's going on here?” The voice rumbled like loose rock and before Karin turned around she was already arranging her face into startled, phony innocence. Sure enough, it was Maul, standing there with crossed arms along with two of Maven's flunkies.  
  
“Why Maul, what a pleasure. Was just having some drinks with my good buddy Ingun here.” Ingun for her part muttered something and then her head fell again.  
  
“I think she's had enough.” He brusquely took Ingun off Karin with a scowl before handing her to his cronies. Ingun slumped between them, and they each wound up hooking an arm under her to keep her from sliding down to the floor. “Take her home and put her in her room straight away.”  
  
“See you around Ingun!” Karin waved, all the while grinning shamelessly at Maul, who's expression darkened further.  
  
“Wha-?” Ingun's head half rose, but slumped again, she was out. The two men carried her out quickly and for their part most of the bar patrons had the grace to look elsewhere.  
  
“Sit down.” Maul grit and Karin tossed her hair and shrugged. Maul seemed almost as pissed as she was. She'd been so close, Karin could still feel the after touch of Ingun in her empty hands. Maul slid into the stool beside her and watched Karin quaff her Cliff Racer with quiet disgust. She glanced at him, and when neither of them said anything had another swig. “What do you think you were doing with Ingun?” He asked after another two shots.  
  
“Told you, we went out for drinks.”  
  
“I told you to stay away from Ingun. I also told you what would happen if you didn't.”  
  
“Hey.” She slammed her drink down and pointed to her busted lip. “You see this? Those fucking guards you were supposed to control did this while I was trying to do my job. Would have done a sight worse if not for Ingun, I was thinking I was gonna have to carve them up till she came along. So I took her out to thank her, big deal! I pay my goddamn bills!” He leaned in to get a better look at the bruises and she thrust her chin out, letting him get an eyeful. There was an almost sardonic grin at the corners of his mouth now.  
  
“Speaking of paying goddamn bills, how much money you have left?”  
  
“After drinks? Four septim. But I'll be fine, think I saw an untended vegetable garden the other day.” Maul shook his head.  
  
“Maven's not happy with you. When she hears about this-”  
  
“What, that I took her daughter out? She going to put a hit out on me for that? No wonder Ingun's the way she is. Maybe if **you** took her out once in awhile she wouldn't be down in her mother's basement all day brewing death juice.”  
  
“You're overstepping. That's not our jobs. Besides, I'm not buying the sleaze with a heart of gold act Karin. I'm the one who found you remember.”  
  
“Yeah, I think we should talk about that. I want-”  
  
“Maul? Hey, it's been an age! What can I get you and your friend here?” Maul turned his surly look on the Argonian.  
  
“Nothing, and she's no friend of mine idiot.”  
  
“He's just embarrassed.” Karin grinned and put an arm over Maul's broad shoulder. “Maul and I, we're old friends. Real good friends. In fact, he was just going to buy me dinner.” He stiffened, and Karin got ready to duck an incoming punch, but the oblivious Argonian saved her the trouble.  
  
“Huh. Thought you had a thing for Ingun.” Karin skipped a beat before realizing the Argonian was talking to Maul. He was flushing red and she made a show of innocently twirling her hair.  
  
"Hey, shut the hell up!"  
  
"Nah, Ingun's old news, he's with me now. Right big boy? Hey, why don't you come back for our order in a minute.”  
  
“Right.” The Argonian wandered off and Maul sat, staring ahead, radiating hostility.  
  
“I'm not buying you dinner.” He grated.  
  
“Don't worry, I won't take it like you're hitting on me or anything.”  
  
''I'd like to hit on you for the shit you've pulled since you came to town.”  
  
“Well I do like a good spanking.” She lilted, and now his stony face turned on her. “Hey, if you lightened up I wouldn't have to fuck with you so much.”  
  
“I'm not one of your marks and it's not cute. Quit while you're ahead. Now are you going to do this job anytime soon? ”  
  
“That really depends on you Maul. I can't do any heavy talking without getting something to eat first, you don't want me fading away from hunger and all when I go take care of you know who.”  
  
“You're really going to blackmail me for dinner? After I got you this job?"  
  
"I'm not saying I'd throw a job just because you didn't buy me dinner. But a little insurance wouldn't hurt would it? Come on Maul, moneys tight, I don't eat much, honest."  
  
"Who's fault is that? That money should have been more than enough to last you the week. Did you drink it all away?" He eyed the graveyard of empty tankards nearby.  
  
"Course not. I had job related expenses, like I said. You'll love my work, it's going to be beautiful. I do my best art in red.” The Argonian came back to take their order.  
  
"Ale." Maul muttered darkly, avoiding eye contact.  
  
"And for your, ahem, lady friend?" Her wolf grin loomed like a crescent moon and she slammed her hand down on the bar loud enough to wake up the drunk that was dozing at the end.  
  
"Chop steak! Fried leaks! Bread and butter! And whatever cat piss passes for your finest booze!"  
  
"Cat piss it is then." The Argonian gave her a thin reptilian smile and Maul gave a short laugh that was more like a bark.  
  
"Shouldn't say that, lot of cats in the city." Karin looked at the drink the Argonian brought her, sniffed it then downed it, eliciting another surly shrug from Maul.  
  
"I'm not worried. Buddy of a buddy of Mavens? He wouldn't screw me, and if he did I'd swim in his guts."  
  
"So when are you going to do it?"  
  
"Night after tomorrow, it'll be a new moon. Did all my planning today, I've got a way in and then she's history." She downed the rest and wiped her mouth. "I need one more thing."  
  
"Whatever it is, forget it."  
  
"I want you to answer me just one question and we're clear. Why'd you hire me?" He sat drinking his ale, surly and bear like. "You can sit there and glower till your balls drop, because I'm just going to sit real close like this." She got right up against his shoulder and he jerked away angrily.  
  
"Because they said you're good and you're available. Stay downwind of me too while you're at it."  
  
"Horseshit. I know exactly what they say about me. You and Maven hate my guts. Are you planning on me taking a fall for this? Because if you are I'll-"  
  
"No . Maven-" He sighed and cupped his mouth with his hand. “This stays between us? You don't ask me for anything ever again?”  
  
“Cross my heart.” Karin did the motion, then drew her fingers over her throat and put a silencing finger to her lips.  
  
"Maven complained to the Brotherhood of Shadow once too often, and now they won't give her the time of day. She's lost some power, she needs this hit to happen. I hired you because you're who we could get, you're not Brotherhood, you're outside Maven's circle, the kind of person she'd never hire. You're completely deniable. Lot's of people would believe she'd have the Jarl killed, but never by someone like you. I can't even believe I hired you, who else would?" He looked around the bar again and pointed a thick finger at her. "So she thinks she's invincible, and long as I continue to do my job she is, and my job depends on you not fucking this up. You got that?" Before she could answer the Argonian came back with two big steaming plates of food and laid both in front of Karin. She sniffed and then dug in ravenously, like a starving dog. The Argonian watched her devour her food with a smile and glanced at the empty bar in front of Maul.  
  
“Nothing for you?”  
  
“He's watching his figure. Say, you ever notice how bad food fills you up faster than good food? Know what I'm saying?” Abruptly the Argonian's smile slid off and he walked away before saying something he might regret.  
  
“So we're good? You're going to do it?”  
  
“Yeah. I guess I'll believe you.” She said between mouthfuls of food. “I've got this.”  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"Definitely." She patted the flask of Lightning at her hip. If you couldn't do it on Lightning, it couldn't be done as the old gang used to say. Maul nodded, satisfied, then got up and walked out, leaving Karin to finish wolfing her meal. She'd already thought enough on the job, now she was thinking of what came after.  
  
Take out Laila, get her money, then see if she couldn't convince Ingun to come with her. It would have to be quick, otherwise Maven and Maul were certain to come down on her. She was pretty sure she'd go along after their talk tonight. The girl was isolated, with nobody to relate to who could appreciate the mechanics, nay, the thrill of seeing poison wind it's way through a blood stream until the target spasmed and finally died. Except her new best friend Karin.  
  
Karin hadn't felt like she'd had this kind of connection with someone in awhile. Course, it might have just been another twisted fixation, was hard to tell sometimes, but she felt like she was reading the signals right this time. Besides, somebody like Ingun who understood her work could come in handy for times other than rolling around in bed. Two freaks against the world, it was kind of romantic. What if you're reading the signals wrong though, a small voice inside asked. She hated that damned voice. The voice sometimes told her she shouldn't drink in the morning, shouldn't do Lightning just as fast as she could brew it, told her she ought to just pay for it instead of going out and raping women. Karin never listened to it if she could help it.  
  
Well pipsqueak, if I'm not reading them right, I'll just have to force myself on Ingun on my way out she thought. Karin hadn't been obsessing over and romancing the alchemist as she thought of it these last couple days just to walk away without knowing what those silky thighs felt like against her. Waiting till the last minute is what she did, how she lived. Bet all or nothing every time and just keep winning big. Forever.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Authors notes:_  
  
_Sorry this took forever, story should have flown but job and health situation ate all my time. On the other hand, it's long, Writer kept undercounting the words for some reason. Ran out of room for talky stuff last chapter and didn't want next to be over long, so it's here on it's own, hence the title. From here on out it's mostly sex and violence, next chapter especially, so it oughta be shorter. I suck at pacing, what can I say. But hey, there's a pic of Ingun and Karinc by Miycko over at H-foundry, check it out for a taste of what's coming up!_  
  
_So I mostly console, and I love Bethesda, but Skyrim looks better on PC. Characters will look gorgeous at a certain distance, then they'll sit or stand, then look awful. If Delphine is 55, I'll eat my hat, and I know Saadia is hotter than portrayed. Even Elisif the Fair looks a little rough sometimes, and it's right there in her name! So when I describe certain characters, imagine they're prettied up a bit at say, nexusmods or loverslab, don't get weirded out!_  
  
  
  
_Next chapter: Till now it's been a little sexual assault, burglary, child endangerment, just typical Bethesda dickery, but those scary tags are finally going to show up. If I haven't sucked you in yet, there's going to be sick fuckery coming: Karin, on a mind altering substance, sent to assasinate a female Jarl. I'll do what I can, but you've been warned. Up next, Lightning in action, pure deus ex machina in a bottle, and the Laila Law-Giver hit._


	4. Laying Down The Law

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Breaking And Entering, Intimidation, Forced Drug Use, Rape and Murder

Chapter 4: Laying Down The Law  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Pierre Clementi, snot full o' cocaine.  
The sexual streets, why it's all so insane.  
Humans are running, lavender room.  
Hoverin' liquid, move over moon- Patti Smith_  
  
  
  
  
The new moon. Inky blackness punctured only by starlight unless you had a torch, a good night to get your throat slit in some alley. They said all the crazies came out during the full moon, but Karin was a new moon kinda girl because when the lights went down she could get up to anything she wanted. She was a stranger in town, emphasis on the strange, and now she was on every guards' shit list, which meant she needed every edge she could get. She'd counted the guards all week, finishing her scouting early afternoon. In the dark they'd never see her coming  
  
  
"Going out again?" The Argonian polished another glass and set it on the pile. She'd taken to leaving the last few nights and coming back early morning, sleeping till afternoon in preparation for the festivities. She'd be alert tonight.  
  
  
"You know it." She leaned casually on the bar and gave him her grin and his yellow eyes blinked twice. She knew he observed her odd hours, she'd begun to set him on edge this week and before she left she wanted to get him good. "Going to a party tonight, guess who's the maid of honor?" She winked at him and the scales of his head turned a darker shade in response.  
  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
  
"I mean, a dozen guys and I'll be the only girl there, know what I'm saying? Let's just say I'm gonna want a long bath after tonight."  
  
  
"You really don't have to tell me these kind of things."  
  
  
"No, I'm really proud of this, I just feel like I have to share it with someone and it's pretty dead here." He cleaned another glass, five minutes later after studiously trying to ignore her he'd only cleaned two.  
  
  
"See that's why when you eat an orc girl out, you've got do it right, you can't be too submissive or they get the wrong idea. They start sticking things places they were never meant to go. So after I put her away hot and wet, the guys got a little impatient. Those rods weren't going to polish themselves, ya know? Then there were the dicks my friend, dicks everywhere. Big, small, hard, soft, smooth, shriveled, black, white, green, now that I think back, there was a Khajit there too. You've haven't lived till you've felt a Khajit tongue on you. When it's inside it's just like getting tickled with a-"  
  
  
"Alright, please just eave and go to your...your whatever." He glanced nervously at the back and made a show of going to the other side of the bar to slice some vegetables, all the while looking back at Karin every few seconds. He was all but wishing her away.  
  
  
"You're not even going to ask where it is? Anyone who's anyone'll be there. If you get off early tonight I bet I could find some room to squeeze you in." He fumbled at that and knocked over a plate, which shattered on the floor.  
  
  
"Damn it Talen, those plates don't grow on trees!" He heard his woman bellow from the back.  
  
  
"Will you get out of here?" He hissed.  
  
  
"I can see you're busy. Well I'll tell ya all about it tomorrow. Who knows, maybe there'll be another Argonian there." His relieved eyes followed Karin's back as she stepped out of the safety of the inn into the darkness. The sound of water lapping in the canal below filled her ears and she inhaled the night air. Yes, it was definitely party night. It would be a great time to slip in on Ingun for a little midnight loving, but that would wait for tomorrow. There were a half dozen windows still lit, otherwise all Riften was dark. A few guards were doing their rounds, their torches like fireflies, easily visible in the moonless night. All she had to do was keep her distance.  
  
  
Reaching down, she uncorked the flask and took a swallow of Lightning. Karin shuddered as the sweet yet acid taste washed down her throat and then settled into her guts. It would be a few minutes, she was electric with anticipation. The first hit was always a religious experience. She'd heard of blind moth weavers who'd developed superhuman hearing, but this went beyond. Lightning increased all the senses, coming back down always felt like going blind, deaf and insensitive all at once. The heightened awareness wasn't just a drug thing, it could and did translate to physical action. It made normal perception of time and reality seem like a joke, with the added bonus that it made most people very horny, what with the super sensitivity. Carving people up, that was just for giggles, but on Lightning was the only time Karin truly felt awake. She could never fully recall the feeling afterwards as it clouded her mind a bit, only that it was the greatest. She'd tried to write her thoughts down once while on it, a continuous stream of profound theory that would shatter worlds and lift the clouded veil over the masses that kept them ignorant of the universe, all life's answers and mysteries on one page. When she'd come back down, she couldn't make sense of any of it, just crazy drug talk about demon pigs and stars with the verbs all outta place.  
  
  
She walked casually towards the cemetary, taking a detour through a few alleys to avoid the open, empty market place where a few street lanterns were burning. A cat hissed at her from it's bed in a fetid pile of garbage, but the trip was otherwise quiet. Now she was starting to feel the Lightning do it's work, and she looked up at the stars, which had grown brighter and brighter, like pin pricks in the canvas of the night shining divinely on Karin and no other. It made her feel slightly paranoid, wondering if the guards could see it as well. She made it to the cemetary, and looked up at the impressive statue of Talos. Her perception was shifting, she knew it was three times as tall as her but buzzing with Lightning, it looked like a foot stool. Karin shivered as it kicked inside her again, the cool air was making love to her skin and it would only get better from here. She could just enjoy that feeling all night, but she had work to do.  
  
She grasped the statue's arm with a strength she wouldn't normally possess, then pushed herself off it's legs. She floated in space for a split second as she let go, then grasped Talo's shoulder. Karin made two more hops, almost slipping on the smooth stone, before she was able to finally stand and put a foot on the big shoulder. The other she balanced on the top of Talo's head. Something about standing that way struck her funny.  
  
  
"Sorry grandpa, least it's not your balls." She'd cut up the last of Haelga's dresses, this one high enough to see her thighs in preparation for the jump and her pale legs were the brightest thing out tonight. She took a deep breath, trying to balance the delusion that she was invincible with the dim realization that if she didn't make this in one go she'd probably break something.  
  
  
Karin leapt, high and far as her legs would take her. It was only three seconds, but on Lightning, the feeling of launch, the weightlessness at the peak of the jump, and the sickening plummet as she came back down were timeless, amplified. She hit the parapet with jarring force, then scuffed her hands and legs as she scrambled up, but strength born of the drug and tenuous sanity carried her over the edge. Karin rolled over and gulped for air. She was never doing that again if she could help it. She crept along the battlement, she'd never once seen a guard up on them, so she figured it was safe.  
  
  
The battlement ended in a turret with no access. She put an experimental foot on it, testing, finding it depressingly smooth and round. No footing, no grip, and she'd have to make the jump straight up. She crouched low as possible before launching off her toes, her knees exploding. Karin's fingers clawed at the top, not finding purchase, and she came back down. The soft thud of her feet landing was deafening to her. She stopped to catch her breath, and strained her hearing. A murmur of voices talking below somewhere, but they didn't sound alarmed or even interested. She jumped again, this time angling a bit and managed to catch one of the merlon stones with both hands. Karin braced against the wall, getting her feet up against it was tough. She had to use all her upper body strength, and her shoes were too smooth against the stones, her feet kept slipping. She hugged the stone with a bear's grip, finally managing to pull herself up. Wait, was she a bear? What was a bear doing up here? She shook her head, clearing the drug thoughts and letting the dull ache creep out of her arms. Not that it hurt much, everything felt wonderful on Lightning, but her body didn't always know that.  
  
  
It was dark down there even with her night vision, but Karin could still make out the shapes. She saw the guards with the torches fine, but it was strange. There were more guards down there than there should have been, and there were a few standing around in the dark without torches. The mutter of their bored conversations was fainter than the crickets' chirp, but she could make it out tuned up as she was. There were two in the sidegarden below her, hunkered down against the wall, just outside the torchlight, another two outside the ground floor entrance of the garrison. At least there was no one on the second floor landing, and nowhere to hide anyone.  
  
  
Karin hadn't seen the guards do anything like this all week, and for a moment she thought of calling the whole thing off for the night. Then the Lightning reasserted herself and she sighed with the rush of pleasure and remembered that nothing really mattered anyway, because she could backhand a Daedra and leap mountain ranges if she needed to. Still, the battlement was exposed with this many guards. In moonlight she would have stuck out, but it was so dark you'd have to be watching like a hawk to see anything at all. Reassured, Karin lowered herself from the other side and swung around. She was ready for the landing this time and her feet barely made a whisper.  
  
  
"What if someone sees? We shouldn't." A soft female voice, directly below Karin. She knew that underneath her feet was an arch with tables that the guards had set up for meals and dice, sounded like there was someone there.  
  
  
"There's no one out there, it's just Anuriel being paranoid. It's going to be a quiet night." A man's voice, hilariously ignorant of the psychopath hunched on the stone above him. "We may as well make the most of it."  
  
  
"Sometimes I think you just fool around with me to remind yourself how much you love your wife."  
  
  
"Hey, I still love her. I just love you a little more. Now come here." There was a giggle, a sigh, and then smacking sounds, like heavy necking. Sounds like a little romance at work Karin thought, not letting herself get nervous with the gaggle of guards below. Nervousness would slow her movements, lead to mistakes. Move like a cat, fast, smooth, quiet and not giving a fuck. Wait, was she a cat? No, ride the Lightning, don't let it ride you. Karin was having a bit of trouble keeping her head, she marked the trip up to it being a particularly potent batch. Ingun had done very well for a first attempt, she wondered what else she could do. There was the door to the second floor of the guard barracks. Trying the handle quietly, she found it unlocked.  
  
  
She eased the door open, braced for the creak, or for the guard who would be standing right there, ready to run her through, but it was almost deserted. Most of the beds were empty, maybe because of the large night guard outside. There was a sleeping body filling a bed on either side of her, but that was it. She crept past the two, quiet as the grave. Nobody woke, or even shifted as she glided past, then tried the stairs, putting as little weight on each foot as she could. She peered around the corner.  
  
  
There were four beds between her and the door, all empty, but that didn't put her at ease. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled the yellow bottle and popped the cork. She hadn't dared to filch much at Elgrims when Ingun let them in early, but she'd managed to snag one of the larger invisibility potions when she'd gone back for the Jazbay. She drank the stuff down, watching her own skin shimmer and then fade into translucence. She crept quickly, easing the door open just enough to slip through. Karin licked her lips, she was inside the keep proper now, she had maybe a minute. She knew there was a storeroom, the Jarl's useless housecarl Unmid's room, the stairs up on the left and the main hall on the right.  
  
  
There was a guard standing outside Anuriel's room with a direct view of the hall. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, slumping to make himself comfortable. He was awake, or at least trying to be, but Karin didn't know anybody who could watch a door all night without letting their attention wander. She left the door cracked and crossed the hall quickly, sparing a glance into the main hall. She'd found the remaining guards, there were almost as many milling around as she'd seen middle of the day. Suddenly, the guard at the end of the hall raised his head, and seemed to focus directly on Karin. She froze, hand on her dagger, when he stood straight and began to walk towards her. He was walking, not shouting for help, and her fingers loosened on the handle. The guard stared at her, or through her rather and Karin ducked up the stairs. The guard passed, his footfalls like thunder in her ears. She found the landing and let herself exhale when there was no guard at the top of the stairs. She heard the quiet click of the guard closing the door she had come through, and after a few moments she heard the footfalls move back to it's watch across the wall.  
  
  
She broke out her picks. She was by no means an expert at this, the biggest struggle was not to rush and make any noise. Someone might still come up and do a check, but pretty unlikely. Two agonizing, tense minutes as she fiddled with the lock, listening to the tumblers slide around in the lock like boulders crashing on themselves. Surely everyone in Riften was hearing them. The door clicked, and she was through. She eased it open to see a small set of stairs, no one on the landing so she crept up around, holding her breath. Her son's rooms were on either side, and the middle door was the Jarl's bedroom. One door now between Laila Law-Giver and her execution.  
  
  
Karin had killed dozens of people before, but this job made her anxious. So it was a Jarl, so what? The guards broke their pattern tonight. This setup is wrong. That's just drug paranoia talking and there's no sense second guessing now Karin thought. The guards were lazy, shiftless shits and even if they were weren't, no one would be expecting her to have gotten past the small army downstairs. Still, she crept to each of the doors and put an ear to them, listening. Light breathing from one, a loud snore from the other. There was no one awake in there.  
  
  
Suppose instead of the Jarl in there, there's a dozen guards half snoozing in their chairs, just waiting for that door to open? Yeah, and suppose it rains mutton tomorrow? The voice shut up.  
  
  
Karin recognized she was starting to come down, so she took another nip of Lightning to keep the high going before trying Laila's door. Locked. She broke out the picks again, and cringed when she bent one right off. Carefully she probed the lock for it's secret, having to adjust the angle, coaxing it to turn, not too hard and then...click. The door creaked a little on it's hinges, and Karin eyed the room through the crack. She could just make out the shape on the bed from here, heard a woman's steady breathing. This was the moment of truth, if anyone was in there waiting for her, they'd see her now. She opened the door and looked around.  
  
  
There was no one. It was just her and Laila. Karin felt the knot in the pit of her stomach loosen when the door softly clicked close again behind her. She wanted to laugh out loud, why had she been so worried? Even with the extra guards, it had taken maybe an hour to get inside. All her apprehension gone, she sauntered to the bed. Laila had her back to her, and Karin's grin widened as she pulled her knife on the sleeping Jarl. It was a thin shank, perfect for one strike to pierce the brain. Something else was bothering Karin now.  
  
  
It was just too damn easy. Well, one quick thrust and it would be over before Laila even knew she was dead and then Karin could collect her winnings. The sheets were thin silk and they clung to the Jarl's sleeping form, to her back, her hips, the curve of her ass. Karin hesitated. If Laila had been a man, she'd have been dead already. She knew she shouldn't do anything with the woman, this was why nobody took her seriously and why the Dark Brotherhood had rejected her applications until threatening to make her disappear if she ever darkened their door again.  
  
  
Just shut up for a second Karin thought. There was no hurry. Her eyes traced the other woman's curves, feeling them up mentally and before she knew it, her fingers were following suit. Her nails caressed Laila's shoulderblades, sliding down her spine, and Laila shifted but didn't wake. On Lightning Karin fancied she could feel the bare skin even through the sheet. It was going to be over just like that. The getting ready had been the hardest part, this part had been a breeze. She felt the need to celebrate.  
  
  
Then celebrate afterwards when it's done and you're safely away! The little rational voice, weak, whiny and reedy fought with the raging impulses careening about in a hyper-aware brain addled by Lightning. It was no use though. She felt good, she had just completed her biggest job ever, even if the pay wasn't all she'd hoped, this would go along ways to shining up her bad reputation. The Jarl stirred, turned over, and Karin pulled her fingers back as if they were scalded. Laila's eyes were still closed, auburn hair brushed back. Without her circlet or the stern expression she looked more natural and feminine. In the light of her fireplace, her hair was like copper fire. Karin's smile reached her crazed eyes as she what lay beneath the covers. Laila wasn't wearing a top that Karin could see.  
  
  
Karin tried to remember back to meeting Laila a few days before. She hadn't really stuck out in her mind, you couldn't expect every female Jarl to be an Elisif, just a decent looking middle aged woman. At the time Karin had thought Laila would probably be alright if she cut back on, ahem, drinking, but now in the firelight with her hair framing her face and Lightning's influence, she was gorgeous. She could have been almost any woman, it didn't matter. Karin was riding high and getting hot and bothered at the thought of what she was about to do.  
  
  
You're going to try to rape a Jarl with half the city guard crawling around? The voice asked unbelieving.  
  
Never waste a Lightning high. Isn't that why we got into this kinda work, so we could do what we love? Besides, I've got hours before sunup. She'll scream. Oh you bet she will. In Karin's mental state, the argument blurred together until she couldn't tell who was saying what. The nice thing about these debates was one way or another she always won them.  
  
  
She'll scream her fucking head off and her sons will burst through the door and the guards'll burst through the door, and if they don't all poke a thousand bloody holes in you, Maven'll  
bury you.  
  
  
Not if I gag her, or better yet, I got something else that'll keep her quiet. Karin felt her body flush as she thought it over. The longer she waited, the better Laila looked to her. Her fingers were already softly stroking the Jarl's flesh again as she let the argument play out the only way it could.  
  
  
This is why your life is fucked up, you've lost it. As much trouble as you went to for the Lightning you're going to blow it on a half good looking Jarl.  
  
  
I've got plenty to blow, and I''ll have plenty of money for more tomorrow. C'mon, it's been so long since I've done it on Lightning. The voice went quiet at that.  
  
  
Well I guess when you put it that way....  
  
  
That's right. Now shut the hell up and let mama work. This is going to be something special.  
  
  
Karin felt good, too good to just leave a mess behind, and too good not to take advantage of the situation. Holding the knife at the ready, she pulled back the covers, and her grin became a leer.  
It was like a sign from the Divines, the Jarl was sleeping in the nude. She'd lost the hourglass figure of youh but other than that she wasn't bad. She had the remnants of a good body, her tits hadn't sagged much, she still had some shape and a bit of size to them. She had a cluster of pale freckles between her mounds and some squeezably thick hips from mothering children. She'd know for sure once she felt them bounce in both hands and tasted the skin that was even now starting to get goosebumps from being uncovered.. The Lightning was still coursing through her veins, bringing hot blood to Karin's brain and down to her thighs where she tingled with anticipation. Why not? The hard part was behind her, one strike, duck out through the balcony and the job was over. How many times again in her life would she get the chance to fuck a decent looking Jarl?  
  
  
She wanted to start going to work on Laila straight away, butthis needed a little setup first. She pulled the covers back further, and climbed into bed with Laila. Karin placed a hand between her breasts to balance herself and straddled her as Laila began to stir.  
  
  
"Wakey wakey." Karin whispered.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Laila muttered, shifted, then opened bleary blue eyes to see the demonic shape grinning down at her. She tried to bolt upright, but a hand covered her mouth and pushed her back down into the pillow before she could summon breath to scream. As the horror above her came into focus, she could see the rabid white smile, one psychotic blue eye gleaming down at her, the other covered in the shadow of jet black hair. The firelight behind the woman made her look even more terrifying, and Laila's heart raced.  
  
  
"Shhh. Don't move, don't talk, or I'll stick this in your eye." Karin's voice was softly deadly, the knife point about two inches away from Laila's pupil. "See it? Try to scream, I'll jab it in and twist. Nod if you understand." Laila closed her eyes, not wanting to look at that face or the point of steel pointing at her like the finger of doom. She nodded. "That's good. If I wanted to kill ya you'd be dead already, but don't test me." Karin's lips quirked in amusement as she saw despair turn into a glimmer of pitiful hope on Laila's face. She felt hot breath against her palm, but she could't make out the words, so she moved the knife closer and leaned down, moving her hand slightly.  
  
  
"What do you want from me?" Laila pleaded quietly.  
  
  
"I'm here to send a message. The people want skooma, and we just give people what they want right? So you're gonna get off our backs and stay off from now on, aren't you?" Laila nodded eagerly, probably lying, but little white lies like not planning on killing the Jarl were what made the world keep spinning. She'd probably have confessed to murdering Tiber Septim at this point if Karin wanted her to. "Good. Just so we understand eachother, I brought you a little present. Hold tight." Karin placed her forearm over Laila's mouth, putting her body weight on the other woman as she reached into her belt for the flask of Lightning. Laila squirmed in discomfort but when it became clear Karin wasn't smothering her she went rigid again. Karin gleefully shook the bottle in front her eyes.  
  
  
She knew she shouldn't waste it like this, but was a good time on Lightning ever a waste? Fuck yes it is, this is why you're always broke that tiny undernourished, barely rational part of her brain screamed, but she rarely listened to it when she was sober, let alone on Lightning. Her entire body was quivering with anticipation in each breath, like a huge bonfine just waiting for one spark to light it, and then the blaze would reach the heavens. She could turn anyone into a blood fountain, but giving Laila impossible pleasure before she sent her on her way kind of had a twisted appeal. Besides, thanks to the Jarl's ignorance of skooma, this was the biggest batch she'd cooked in awhile, maybe ever.  
  
  
"You and I are going to have a little drink together." Now Laila shook her head furiously, fear making her eyes grow like saucers. The breath on her palm again, Karin didn't need to hear her this time. "It's skooma, not poison. You'll love it. Laila Law-Giver is going to spend every day craving it from now on, just so you see what your little crusade gets you." Laila's blue eyes were wet now with frustration. Karin moved her hand again, keeping the blade within the Jarl's sight. "You have something to say? Be nice now."  
  
  
"You...you trash. I won't!" Karin traced the knife over Laila's skin, and the Jarl tried to shrink away. Having power over a Jarl who's jewelry probably cost more than Karin could make swimming in the shit of her profession for a year was starting to get her off. With her seated on Laila like this, the only thing between Karin and the breasts were her panties. She popped the cap off the flask, and took a nip where Laila could see it, then licked her lips. She offered the flask to Laila, who closed her eyes again, scrunching her face like a child who didn't want to take it's medicine.  
  
  
"Drink or I gotta kill you now. Which'll it be?" Laila deliberated for a few seconds, before making the only choice. She nodded faintly at the flask. "Good girl." Karin fed her a decent dose, enough to drive most people out of their gourd their first hit, keeping the knife on her the whole time. Laila coughed, then gagged, and Karin kept a hand over her mouth to keep her from vomiting. A few minutes crept by, Laila's eyes pleading with Karin as she just continued to smile down implacably at the Jarl while counting to herself. Close enough. Karin lifted a leg and slid off her panties with a whisper and before Laila knew what was happening her hot slit was burning against the Jarl's chest.  
  
  
"What's that heat? What are you-" Karin didn't let her finish, but leaned down and kissed Laila. The woman tried to push away, and Karin took the opportunity to run a delicate tongue over the lips.  
  
  
"Just relax and let go. It's only going to get better." The trip could still go any number of ways, she didn't want to give Laila time to get on top of the Lightning and try to fight or bolt. It was like swimming in a choppy sea, it took practice to not flip out on it. Karin was experienced at cresting the waves, but a novice like Laila would likely get laid under by the storm of madness it would bring on.  
  
  
"You sick bitch." She sobbed, confused, as Karin broke the kiss and leveled the knife at her. "What more do you want? Don't touch m-" The Jarl's voice was unsteady and Karin silenced her again with another kiss.  
  
  
"Shut up you bag, I'm doing you a favor!"  
  
  
She consoled one side of Laila's mouth, then the other as her hands moved over the Jarl's body, exploring, then she forced her tongue deep down Laila's throat. The very tip brushed her esophagus and the older woman squirmed desperately before her mouth responded to Karin, panicked, just trying to placate Karin so she could breath even as her body struggled. Karin finally put the knife away so she could use both hands, keeping Laila pinned with her body and quiet with her mouth. Laila was thrashing, but the day Karin couldn't handle a prissy ponce like her was the day she'd quit.  
  
  
Karin's hands went down to the plump breasts, encircling, and she gave them a good squeeze. Laila shuddered in response, tried to protest, and Karin took the opportunity to tangle her tongue with the Jarl's. They didn't have the definition of Haelga's or Maven's, but they hadn't gone dry yet as they molded in Karin's hands. Her thumb found Laila's large rouged nipples, and caressed the oversized aerolas, squeezed the nubs, and Laila's body rocked in a convulsion. She was shaking her head back and forth, trying to break free. In this state the touch of female skin to Karin felt like a cool, intoxicating ocean wave, and she drank the sensation up, but maybe Laila was different. Karin massaged her tits, leaving finger sized imprints in the tremulous flesh while watching the Jarl's eyes patiently. Laila was slow to get going, she should be melting any minute now. Karin was soaking down there as well as she straddled Laila again, this time pinning her arms with her knees and hiked up the criminally short skirt of her dress.  
  
  
"Lick it." Karin commanded, as she sat up, putting one hand on Laila's throat and the other between the Jarl's legs and she thrust her pale thighs into her face.  
  
  
"No..." Laila sounded more ashamed than angry or afraid. Her face wore a look of dazed horror, she was blushing furiously, but her eyes were growing glassy. "Isn't that enough? I'll-I won't come after you anymore, I promise, I- " Karin tighted her grip and Laila gasped.  
  
  
"Shhhh. I want you to make me cum, you don't want someone like me getting bored." Karin didn't wait, but lowered her wet pussy down onto Laila's mouth. She didn't react for a moment, before Karin felt her lips graze her folds, and then the small sensation of Laila's reluctant tongue.  
  
  
"That's it baby, take a big lick, just like it was candy." Karin cooed to her, encouraging, and the novice tongue moved a little further now, slowly, caressing her slit. Haelga had just been a dishonest whore and shown her true colors once Karin had started on her, but Laila's expression was disgusted. Her tongue work was unwilling, unskilled, and for that reason more earnest as Karin's eyes fluttered rapidly, feeling the wet warmth radiate inside her.  
  
  
"You deserve a reward for licking me good." She locked the Jarl with her legs so she couldn't make any sudden moves. With one hand she reached down between her legs and spread her vessel for Laila to get her tongue in there, and with the other she took the Jarl's clit between her fingers, massaging it. The tongue stopped and Karin felt the hot gasp of Laila's breath go inside her. Karin took the opportunity to drive down, and now the the tip of the other woman's tongue was inside her. "Ah!" Karin cried, trying to keep her voice down, grinding against Laila's face. She kept the rocking of her hips soft, giving Laila room to breath, to keep going, and after the convulsions she felt the tip of the Jarl's tongue again, harder this time. Karin's face was a mask of pleasure, on Lightning getting eaten down there was just like being lashed by a thousand silk tongues. Having power over the Jarl's life was intensifying her pleasure. She let up and Laila took a great gasp of air.  
  
  
"P-please..."  
  
  
Karin held a hand over the Jarl's mouth as she traced a hand down the stomach, ruffled the small thatch of pubic hair, before her fingers found Laila's entrance. She was only a little wet yet, probably from terror, or her mistaken preference for men and Karin was wondering if the Lightning wasn't going to come on any stronger. She ran her fingertips over Laila's slit experimentally.  
  
  
Her reaction was immediate as the Jarl's hips thrust up as if she were jumping out of the bed, and Karin's fingers rose with her, brushing up between Laila's netherlips and pinching the clit. Her hand covered Laila's mouth before the moan that was almost a scream could wake up her sons next door, then ran her finger up along the woman's sex again and again. The hips bucked, trying to maintain contact between the clit and Karin grinned. Laila was biting down on her hand, but not hard enough to break the skin, her face was flushed, deliciously ashamed as she looked up at her with pleading eyes. Pleading not to stop. There was a small gush down there, and Laila's petals opened for her as Karin took the opportunity to begin caressing inside the Jarl. Soon, she had full access and slipped a long finger in. Laila's whole body tensed as Karin violated her with her digit, before shaking uncontrollably, her tits jiggling like they were in an earthquake. She put her finger into Laila up to the 2nd knuckle and the Jarl hissed like steam as she was diddled by her assassin.  
  
  
The Jarl half sobbed, but already her voice was breaking into a sigh. The last nip of Lightning was coming back on her now just as the first rush hit Laila. The Jarl's eyes dilated, her breathing slowed, and Karin slowly removed her hand, ready if she moved or yelled. Laila looked around the room then back up at Karin in wonder.  
  
  
"Is this...skooma?" She asked dreamily.  
  
  
"Tell me what it's like." Karin breathed, and then put her finger back into Laila and caressed.  
  
  
"I'm golden."  
  
"Golden?" Karin felt the velvet walls squeeze her finger, urging her on, and she gave Laila a second finger, causing Laila to rock violently.  
  
  
"Gold...stardust. So beautiful." With a pop she removed her finger and Laila settled back into her pillow with a disappointed moan.  
  
  
"What do you think of me now?"  
  
"Please..." Karin cupped an ear to the Jarl's mouth, even as she caressed the thighs.  
  
  
"Please what?"  
  
  
"Please stop. Let me go." The voice was no longer terrified though, the words meaningless.  
  
  
"Liar, you don't want me to stop. You should be more honest, I'd lick an honest pussy. When's the last time you had it like this?"  
  
  
"N-never! With a w-woman! With a sleaze like y-!" Laila shuddered as Karin's finger teased again, biting her lip until a drop of blood trickled down and Karin promptly extended her tongue and lapped it up.  
  
  
"Now stick out your tongue. Further." Laila's pink tongue rose comically from between her lips. Karin turned and shifted position, and now she tapped her bare bottom down on the Jarl's tongue, savoring the tip as she buried her head between Laila's thighs. She spread Laila's pussy, tongueing it, sucking on the engorged clit and the older woman cried out just as Karin lowered her hips, muffling her again. Now Laila was lapping back there in time with Karin's tongue, and she let her legs relax, the two women spreadeagled against eachother.  
  
  
Laila's arms moved, Karin allowed it this time. The hands found Karin's slim sides on their own, before caressing her smooth skin until they grasped her toned ass and squeezed. Karin squealed in delight, and rewarded Laila with a torrent of licks, tongueing rings and curling her tongue down to fit inside as far it could. She gave the Jarl's tongue a good squeeze with her inner muscles, and Laila responded, by swirling deeper into Karin. She sighed contendedly, letting the Lightning increase the pleasure a hundred fold.  
  
  
Karin shifted until she was facing Laila again and was pleased at the transformation. The Lightning had taken full effect now, she was under it's spell. To further prove it, she bucked against Karin, hips begging as her hands groped Karin's body blindly. Her pussy was a raging fire against Karin's leg. She sank on top of Laila, who didn't resist her and their lips entwined. This time Laila made the first move, her tongue roving inside Karin's mouth. She probably hadn't had it in years, in the state that she was in she'd probably fuck a cave troll. They kissed, bodies writhing, Karin's pert, hard nipples pushing into the Jarl's heavy breasts, hands racing along each other's bodies, finding warmth down there as their fingers each played a symphony on one another.  
  
  
Laila cried softly into Karin's mouth as her ring finger found the crevice of the Jarl's ass and slipped inside the tight little hole. Not to be outdone Laila spread Karin's pussy with one hand and shoved two fingers in. The fingers wiggled, tickled, and Karin quickened her pace, her breath coming in short rapid bursts. The Jarl didn't know what she was doing, but she was frenzied, to Karin it didn't matter at this point, her whole body was tingling from the drug. She gave the Jarl a little lesson, showing her what a virtuousa could do with her fingers and Laila groaned against her.  
  
  
"Do you like that Laila?" She breathed, and the Jarl moaned and bit her shoulder. "Go ahead, you can taste them if you want." She offered Laila her hard nipples and the Jarl took one into her mouth, sucking until the pink points stood straight up. She managed to fit the entirety of Karin's small breast into her mouth, trying to suck the mound straight off her chest and Karin ran her hands through the auburn hair in ecstasy.  
  
  
"I love it." Laila breathed, lost in the drug. "I want to fuck you right now. Let's have another son." She was pulling Karin's ass apart with her hands, thrusting her pussy up against her and she realized Laila really was trying to fuck her. Her body was acting on instinct, she was a slave to the Lightning now. Karin was sure she didn't even know where she was or who she was with at this point, and she didn't care. She just enjoyed the sensation as Laila's vulva beat against hers in a steady rhythm. She rubbed her folds against the Jarl's in reponse and they achieved a rhythm with their scissoring that made her cleft ache with pleasure.  
  
  
"Get on top of me, and keep your voice down." Laila murmured something unintelligble and they switched positions. Karin lay underneath, positioning herself under the woman with her head against the headboard and the Jarl's back against her stomach. Her thick ass was heavy on her legs, but Karin was feeling too good to do anything but enjoy it. The head of auburn fire nestled between her small breasts, and Karin caressed the older woman's forehead and cheeks before letting her hands roam down the neck. This was one of her favorite positions, Karin could play with the Jarl's body just as easily as it was her own. She rocked back, kneading the moutains of Laila's breasts, tried to get her hands completely around them and couldn't. Laila writhed as Karin's hands posessed her, made her their own. The Lightning made Karin feel like they were one body, gave her a weird disassociative state where she felt her own touch on Laila as she played, pinched, and ran her fingers within the wet insides.  
  
  
Laila arched back, rubbing herself along Karin until she lay on top of her stomach. Her hands guided Karin's hands now, to the soft tits, back down until both pairs of hands teased and massaged Laila's pussy. Now there were two pairs of hands rubbing and fingering their private places together until they were indistinguishable. Karin bit Laila's ear, dipping her tongue inside and Laila moaned too loudly for Karin's taste. The Jarl tilted her head, and Karin tongue fucked her ear even as she kneaded the tits in circles.  
  
  
"Bite them, bite them!" She gasped, and she turned, offering her chest to Karin and fingering the assassin furiously. Karin's face went red and she almost lost it as she climaxed. Laila was rough, completely undone and paying no mind as Karin retreated from the friction so hot and fast that it scorched her. They had lost themselves to the experence now. Laila's eyes were rolling back into her head, a trickle of saliva at the corners of her lips even as Karin felt waves of pleasure wash over her. Laila flicked her clit, pushing it like a button as they each gave one another a finger, then two, and Karin gasped as the intense orgasm hit her. The Lightning had begun to recede a little, which meant it would start to wear off on the Jarl in a few minutes.  
  
  
"Turn over, let me give you something." She sat on the Jarl's smooth back, facing the ass and squeezed double handfuls of the thick buns, which quivered and shook before slipping her fingers down to her entrance. Her hand moved between Laila's legs, as the older woman bit her arm hard enough to draw blood, her breath was hot and rapid against Karin's skin, if she moved the arm the Jarl would surely be screaming. In turn she bit down softly on the redhead's neck, rubbing her thighs up and down over the curve of her ass, bucking against it as if she were fucking her too.  
  
  
She brought her to the edge, to the height of madness and then pushed her off and Laila gushed all over fingers. She was panting hard now, the pleasure begining to ebb in the early morning hours. Karin leaned over, and as the cry crescendoed, in a hard driving strike Karin switched the arm for her palm and slid the knife deep into Laila's temple. Laila seizured, and Karin gave the blade a good hard twist and the shaking stopped abruptly. She fell forward, eyes sightless in a look of terminaly confused pleasure.  
  
  
It was quicker than Karin normally made it, Maven had said she wanted this clean. There was barely any blood. What a waste of a good piece of ass Karin thought, looking at the naked form. She was coming off the high now, Laila was no longer beautiful anymore, just another cold body. She came back to herself then, what time was it? Time always jumped around on Lightning. She'd taken maybe two doses, so it had been, what? Three hours? The sky would start to get some color in an hour and then she'd lose the dark and be a sitting duck out there. No more time to fuck around.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
She went through the bureau and drawers on her way out. Meanwhile Laila Law-Giver stared up at her from the bed, watching the petty theft following her murder with the bland indifference only the dead can manage. Satisfied she'd taken what she could carry Karin opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony. The night air was intoxicating with the promise of freedom and coin. She looked over the side, it was a good drop down onto the battlement she'd come in on in but the rope she'd brought was long. The stars were no longer out and it was getting brighter, pretty soon anybody who'd care to look up would be able to see her. She tied the rope to a column and the other end around her waist and hoisted herself over, keeping a tight grip as she made her way. It was slower going than she'd have liked now that she was coming down in more ways than one. As she made the battlement she found the rope was a foot too short and the knot was too tight to get undone and wound up having to cut through it to get loose, losing more precious minutes. Damn but it was getting bright in a hurry. She heard a bird call somewhere, and there was a mutter of voices below.  
  
  
The Lightning was gone but Karin didn't need it to hear her shoes as she scurried back over the archway. She made the turret, which seemed to loom impossibly out of reach. The stars were gone now, but the outlines of the walls were clearer than ever. You stupid bitch the whiny little voice gloated.  
  
  
Hey, shut the hell up before I kill you with more Lightning. She jumped up, high as she could, and missed the lip of the turret by at least half a foot. She took a deep breath, and tried again. No good, it was taller on this side than the other.  
  
  
"Hey. Did you hear something?" Karin froze, feeling her heart try to beat itself out of her throat as she crouched down to make herself as small as possible.  
  
  
"Nah. What a balls up tonight, huh?" The guard chuckled.  
  
"I'm going to check it. Nothing better to do." Karin still had the empty bottle from the invisibility potion she'd drank. Mind racing, she pitched it hard at the far wall, where it shattered.  
  
  
"Now I know I heard something!" The excited murmur of several voices, pad of at least eight feet, there were still alot of them out. The black was fading from the sky, someone with good eyes would be able to see her at this point.  
  
  
She didn't have long, there were too many of them to drop down into the courtyard and no way out but through the front anyway. The arch she was on connected with the turret, which also connected with one of the high walls surrounding Mistveil. From here, it was a small jump to the wall, but the wall itself was narrow. Maybe four bricks thick, but only one brick across, never intended for having people on top of it. She was out of options.  
  
  
The jump was easy, not much more than a hop but she pinwheeled dangerously on the landing, trying to keep her balance. She could feel her toes through her shoes poking out over the edge of the wall as she wobbled, then dug in her heels before carefully sitting down on the edge. The hard cobblestone of the street stared back up at her, but in the corner of the wall there was soft, mossy earth yet unpaved. Course, there were also several large, hard looking stones as big as her head buried in it as well. She'd have to leap down and angle to the side so she missed the street, without cracking her head on any. She figured it was maybe a second story jump or more. The voices grew louder beneath her, from high up she could make it out the figures of distant guards patrolling the streets, they would only get closer.  
  
  
Karin didn't jump so much as fell with style. Her guts went up into her throat, then gravity caused her body to dip to the side and she landed on her hip, her elbow and wrist taking the rest of the impact. They bent painfully, like saplings pulled to the breaking point, and her ass felt shattered, but nothing broke. The fall knocked the wind out of her, she didn't have enough breath for a yelp until she let her head fall back and felt sharp pain as it bumped against the large rock she'd barely missed.  
  
  
"Who are you? What are you doing?" Karin shook her head to clear it and looked up to see the guard looming over her. She tried to stand up, then sat back down again. "I said what are you doing out?" She was out in the early twilight hours, legs banged up, and plopped down in the dirt. The guard sounded tired and angry, but not alarmed.  
  
  
"Hey, good morning! Was just having a little drink, and...urp!" Karin vomited, as much from the hard landing as all the Lightning abuse and the guard waved a hand in front of his face, disgusted. She offered her hand and the guard didn't bother to help her up as Karin had managed to shakily stand on her own. Everything hurt as she cracked her neck and stretched her back, favoring the guard with a fuzzy smile.  
  
  
"Public drunkeness is a crime you know."  
  
  
"Yeah, I, I know, but I was just heading home and I got a little sidetracked. What a party. And, and, the dicks my friend. Big ones, small ones-"  
  
  
"Get home you filthy piece of shit before I arrest you for loitering!" The guard sneered.  
  
  
"Why thank you kindly!" Karin gave him a little mock salute then stumbled unsteadily back to the Bee and Barb, leaving the guard shaking his head before he stalked off. It was still somewhat dark, and he was tired and distracted, otherwise he might have seen the deep woman- shaped imprint Karin had left in the soft earth next to the wall.  
  
  
Karin weaved until she was sure he was out of sight before abruptly straightening her gait. She was exhausted and filthy again, but despite all that, she smiled and began to whistle a happy tune as she sauntered back into relative obscurity.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Chapter took a long time, but the good news is I'm already half done on the next chapter. Lot of mechanical/ethical problems, and the sneaking really dragged things down. Some of the talky stuff from last chapter was meant to be here, but seemed awkward to fit in. I took as much punch out of the Laila thing as I could, I'm not into snuff if you thought that's what I was going for so hope nobody took it like that. This kind of thing is really stock Karin, if anything it's her way of being nice, so had to write it as it came._  
  
  
_Oh and Karin's body = Linnea Quigley circa Return of the Living Dead. Was bugging the hell out of me that I could name women who looked like Karin face/hair wise but couldn't name the body. And let me say, graphically everybody looks 10X times better on PS3 versus X-Box, maybe it's just the TV._  
  
  
_Next chapter:_  
  
  
_We're more than halfway done as this'll run 7 chapters! In my opinion, the next one is more brutal and alot faster paced. More sick fuckery from Karin, maybe on a few people who deserve it this time. Two, count em two fights while on a Lightning rush, a rape, and an escape from Riften. A double cross, a triple cross, and a live performance by Kriss Kross. Maybe not that one. How'd those guys pee anyway?_


	5. In The Briar Patch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Murder, Theft, Rape, Assault, Forced Sodomy, Torture,

Chapter 5: In The Briar Patch  
  
  
  
  
_A beautiful enemy, a beautiful enemy  
Take a lay, take away, get out -The Stooges_  
  
  
  
  
"Breakfast or booze? Or booze for breakfast?" Karin didn't return the Argonian's smile as she plopped into the stool. She'd washed the worst of the canal filth off her but now she was coming down heavily. It was empty again except for the two of them, the black of night had given way to cool, dim blue. A bird called somewhere, begging anyone on the street to please shut it up permanently with a well placed stone. He looked fresh as a daisy, probably having caught a couple hours, while Karin looked like death warmed over. It was too damned early to be up especially after last night but she didn't dare go to sleep or she'd be out the rest of the day.   
  
  
"Breakfast. What'll 5 septim buy?"   
  
  
"Apple and goat cheese."  
  
  
"Gimme it." She dropped the coins on the counter and the Argonian pushed her the small plate, taking in her disheveled hair and clothes. Ah, the ceremonial Spending Of The Last Septim, always a moment to be savored. She had the former Jarl of Riften's jewelry in her pocket too but she wasn't about to flash that around.   
  
  
"Looks like you had a rough night at your party."  
  
  
"Selfish pricks couldn't keep it up for more than a couple hours. Romance is dead."  
  
  
"Are you sure they weren't just tired of your company?" Karin's bleary scowl homed in on the Argonian.   
  
  
"What the hell does that mean? One look at my face and guys cream their pants." The face she was referring to was puffy now, the eyes bloodshot.  
  
  
"Right. You still going to be staying with us?" .  
  
  
"Yeah, I think another week or two." The Argonian tried to cover up his sigh of disappointment as a yawn.  
  
  
"That's...that's good. Just make sure you pay Keerava later this morning."  
  
  
She nursed breakfast in silence still feeling wiped out from her Lightning session with Laila. She'd probably have till noon on her feet then she was going to pass out. They'd be finding Laila in an hour or so unless she was a late sleeper, now was a good time to think about getting paid and getting out of town. She had a place set up outside Riften that she'd lay low at for a few days. Once the worst had blown over she'd get a letter to Ingun, get her away from Maven and Maul so she could work her charms on the young alchemist and then she'd see what the future held.   
  
  
The barman looked about to say something when she headed out with her full pack, but his woman's caterwauling from the kitchen provided a much needed distraction while Karin skipped out on her bill. She knocked for what seemed like fives minutes on Black-Briar Manor's front door before it cracked open and a grizzled face that looked how Karin felt eyed her suspiciously from the other side.  
  
  
"What in Oblivion's name do YOU want?"  
  
  
"It's Karin. I did my job for Maven. I'm here to get paid."  
  
  
"Come back later you wench." The man squinted at the brightening sky. "Do you even know what time it is?"  
  
  
"Pay time. I've got to get out of town, so get Maven's svelt ass out of bed or I"ll really make some noise. I want to see her now."  
  
  
"You really want that? Lady Black-Briar's having her tea, it's your funeral if she doesn't like what you gotta say."  
  
  
"She'll like it alright. Now open up damn it."  
  
  
The servant led Karin into the hall where she'd waited last time. Apparently Maven was an early riser, she was already working in her study. Karin endured the ponderous wait while two bleary thugs kept watch on her. One of them ducked behind the door and came back with a grave expression.   
  
  
"She doesn't want to see you, come back later."  
  
  
"Guy, I've been waiting to see Maven all morning, and I need to see her now, right now. I'm not going anywhere." The thug was pretty fast, he'd managed to get his hand on the handle of his blade before Karin laid the flat of her dagger over the top of his hand.   
  
  
"Hey don't get too excited there. I get kinda cranky when I'm tired." She gently pushed the hand down with the blade, and the thug glared at her like she'd committed the final crime. "Go ask her again, I'll wait." The broad shoulders disappeared into the other room again, Karin noticed the other already had his hand on his hilt, she wouldn't get the drop on that one. He finally came back.  
  
  
"She says she'll meet you, but not with all those knives." Karin sighed and blew an oily string of hair out of her face. She'd expected something like this, nothing was ever simple. They patted her down, removing her blades, big and small. Her belt jingled like metal death as they took it off her, about a dozen killing implements altogether including the one she'd strapped to her leg, they even caught the small razor she had up her glove. Fucking squealing gate guards. There was another delay as they examined her pack . A few silver bits she'd swiped off Laila, the Lightning in it's nondescript bottle, a spare bandana, and a robe she'd stolen from the Temple of Mara. Haelga's dildo and leather straps lay on top of it, which seemed to be the cause of so much interest.  
  
  
"Seriously?"  
  
  
"Girl's gotta stay amused. Speaking of staying amused, can I have my pack back? Unless you think I'm going to fight my way out of here with that thing."  
  
  
"Give her her bag of toys. There's nothing in there."  
  
  
"After you."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It was a bedroom with an attached study. Maven looked even less happy to see her than last time, gesturing to a chair in front of the desk. It looked like it was for interogating prisoners, or maybe just berating slow employees, Karin wasn't sure which treatment she was getting. She sat down, one of Maven's cats paws looming over either side of her. The one on her left had the belt that contained all her knives. Maven's expression was icy, her eyes flint over her steepled fingers.  
  
  
"You were paid to do a job. A job you told Maul you were going to do yesterday, and you show up here in the early morning hours looking for money?" Karin said nothing, tapping her foot on the floor. "Are you really that crazy, or merely stupid? Don't you know what-"  
  
  
"I did the job." Karin broke in. Maven's thin eyebrow quirked.  
  
  
"I'll let you know when it's your turn to speak."  
  
  
"Save it. I said I did the job already."  
  
  
"You did the..." Maven mouthed the words, and her eyebrows furrowed. She glanced at her cronies, and Karin felt them each take a subtle step closer. "You're a crude, useless little liar. Well, you're going to be another cautionary tale to all who think they can take me for a fool."  
  
  
"You're looking pretty foolish getting bent out of shape for services rendered." She heard one of the thugs behind her draw in his breath, but Maven barely twitched. "Why do you find it so hard to believe I did the job you paid me to do Maven?"  
  
  
"Because I would have heard something." The mean little mouth was shrinking even as her eyes smote Karin.  
  
  
"Not with the mouth breathers that pass for guards up in Mistveil. Your problem is dead in bed right now, I even kept it clean, just like you wanted. I gotta say Maven, you're acting...pretty irrational." For just an instant the ice mask slipped and Karin could see she'd really pissed her off with that, but then Maven smiled. It was probably the thinnest, coldest smile Karin had ever seen, and Karin answered it with one of her own.  
  
  
"You can bluff, I'll give you that. Here's what's going to happen. You'll sit in that chair, and I'm going to check your story. When my man comes back and tells me the truth, I'm going to have you cut into fishbait. Then I'm going to sell it down at the docks at a discount. 'The mystery meat fish love.' How does that sound?"  
  
  
"You missed your calling. Your man's going to come back and tell you I did my job. Then you'll pay me what you promised, because I've had it with this amateur horseshit."   
  
  
"We'll see."   
  
  
Maven nodded at one of her men, who left as she and Karin continued to observe eachother, frozen smiles barely concealing murderous intent on both sides. Her nerves told her to take Maven and her peon out now while she was down a man, but the other guy came back before she could finish the thought.   
  
  
"They're checking."   
  
  
"Good. Keep our friend here company." The silence became strained, the air heavy. Maven occasionally glanced up calmly from whatever she was writing. As the minutes ticked by, her glances became more suspicious and frequent, trying to gauge Karin's easy posture, and Karin's grin widened until Maven put down her quill.  
  
  
"Wipe that stupid grin off your face. You're in no position."  
  
  
"Maybe it helps me deal with stress. Can I have a drink to take the edge off?"  
  
  
"I'll have Eigar here piss in your mouth if you like." She reached into her pack, and Eigar there tensed up until she pulled out the Lightning. You couldn't tell from looking it wasn't booze or top shelf skooma.   
  
  
"Just a swig to steady my nerves. To your health." Maven only looked at her like she was a bug as she took a hit from the bottle. More dusty minutes, and the drug began to creep it's way into Karin's blood, even as the paranoia set in. Or was it? There was always the chance things were going to go wrong on payday, and Karin didn't need a fortune teller to know which way the winds were blowing. Just as she couldn't stand the waiting the doorman finally came back..  
  
  
"Took you long enough." He scurried to Maven and whispered in her ear, and the change was instantaneous. Maven's annoyed scowl became stunned wonder, and her eyes widened as they rolled back to Karin's grinning face. She felt better now, the Lightning was starting to come on strong, she could hear the rapid murmur of Maven whispering back to the man who nodded and went on his way. The two thugs were still looming behind her, but it didn't matter now, everything was alright everywhere.   
  
  
"Incredible." Maven breathed.   
  
  
"You must be so disappointed."  
  
  
"Hmmm." With a tilt of her head Maven regained her poise even as she looked down her nose again at Karin. "It's difficult to admit being wrong when it so rarely happens, and it's early. Well I suppose you expect an apology?"  
  
  
"Not at all. Just pay me my fucking money for a job well done."  
  
  
"Yes, about that. There's the small matter of some stolen family heirlooms. They went missing the first day we met. One of my men found them over at the Pawned Prawn. Bersi was only too happy to tell him who sold them." Maven's smile had warmed, maybe it was the drug but her pleasant voice and expression didn't match the words Karin was hearing. She hadn't heard that voice since she'd entertained the Thalmor. Karin leaned forward in her chair, getting on the balls of her feet.  
  
  
"Is that what you're angry about? I had to do something about you short changing me on my advance on such a big job. Besides, that stuff wasn't worth all that. Family heirlooms my ass."  
  
"You just have no shame at all do you? Well, luckily we won't be working together again after this. Go ahead and pay her." Maven nodded, and riding the Lightning Karin heard the meaning in that look as plain as a scream in her ear. Karin was sitting, with two burly men a step behind her. She had nothing on her, not even the little holdout razor. It should have been easy for them.  
  
  
Karin made it hard and nasty, bowing out gracefully just wasn't in her nature. To her, it seemed to happen in slow motion. The rush of air behind her as the dagger handle meant to knock her out bounced off the back of the chair as Karin slid out. In the same motion she'd brought the chair around, knocking the blade out of the second man's hand. The Lightning was raging, bringing with it airy weightlessness, she was riding high in the saddle. She knew she wasn't really floating, but that's what it felt like, the chair she was swinging was like a big feather. The first thug had pulled back for another swing but Karin was already chest to chest with him, grabbing the wrist with drug fueled strength even as his other hand beat at her.   
  
  
She took the pain, high on Lightning and adrenaline and giggling uncontrollably as the brawny arm holding the dagger was forced back inch by inch. He was putting his greater body weight on her now, and Karin felt her feet slide backwards against the floor. She was feeling around with her other hand, it was awkward to find the knife she was looking for when someone else was wearing her belt. She pulled the first thing she could grab, a small stilleto. He figured out too late what she was doing as Karin got it up into his ribs and the man's grip on her loosened, his breath wheezed and she got the leverage to put it into his heart. He slid down, hand grasping, not quite dead but getting there fast. She saw the other thug had retrieved his dagger and was coming at her again and Karin took a leisurely second to pull another blade from the belt, a medium sized dirk.   
  
  
The thug's slash that followed parted only air, Karin didn't even give him two swings but jabbed him through the sternum and yanked hard with all her might. She didn't slice him so much as unzip him, releasing a hot copper splash of blood on the floor. Maven was up now in a flash that things were going wrong, in six giant steps she'd run to the bedroom. Karin could see the dagger on the nightstand she was going for. She may as well have been a snail as Karin closed behind her like hurricane wind. Maven's fingers had no more brushed the handle when she was driven into the wall. The wood frame cracked, and the gasp of pain from Maven's mouth was cut short as Karin slapped her hand over it and stuck the point of her blade into her neck.  
  
  
"Scream if you want, but I'll end you before you draw in the breath." Maven's eyes were astonished, but her expression cooled almost instantly and the plucked eyebrows fell to their normal position just above condescending eyes. Somehow even with a knife a bit of gentle pressure away from piercing her neck she didn't lose control. She mumbled something against Karin's hand that she couldn't make out, so she pressed the point just under Maven's chin and moved her hand.  
  
  
"I said 'You're faster than I thought.' You truly are a freak."  
  
  
"Shhhhhh. No flattery please. You should have just paid me my money. Where is it?"   
  
  
"There is no money." Maven's act was getting old so Karin stuck the knife in. Just a bit, enough to nick. The blade left a shallow cut and a trickle of blood slinked it's way over her blade. Maven stopped talking and tensed up so as to not cause a deeper wound.  
  
  
"Wrong answer." Maven's eyes flicked down to the blade, more annoyed than scared, then back to Karin.  
  
  
"Killing a Jarl is one thing but to kill me you would have to be mad." Karin's grin stretched and Maven's face stiffened. "A poor choice of words, but I have friends that make Laila look like a scullery maid with delusions of grandeur. I'll offer you a deal. Leave now and live to skulk another day."   
  
  
"The giant swinging balls on you!" Karin marveled. "If I had the day to while away you'd be cutlets for that. I want my money."  
  
  
"Listen to me carefully Karin." She said it matter of factly, with more composure than Karin would have thought possible. "There's no money for you, there never was. Leave with your life while you have it and consider yourself ahead of the game."   
  
  
"So you were always planning on fucking me?"  
  
  
"Of course. Why pay money to a dead woman? It's nothing personal, it's the principal of the thing." Even though she had a blade to her face, Maven was still calm. Karin wanted nothing more than to break her nose with the handle and watch the blood gush but there was the faintest trace of a smile at the edge of Maven's mouth. Karin gave her cheek a small cut and Maven winced.  
  
  
"What's that? I didn't catch that." Karin gestured at the expensive furniture. "You're holding out on me."   
  
  
"I'm trying to appeal to your intelligence, as it is. Take what you like from the room, because I assure you there's no money. Then run as fast and as far away as you can, because you'll be taking the fall for Laila, and I will be coming after you." The Lightning was still buzzing in Karin's ear, but she felt her confidence falter at Maven's surety.   
  
  
"Well that was the plan, only I think I should cut your tits off and take them with me first."   
  
  
"You got to Laila somehow, so there must be something rattling around in that diseased head of yours after all. That means you're smart enough to realize what would happen to you if-" Karin gave the other cheek a quick nick now, leaving an angry red line as the tip of her blade parted Maven's fine skin.  
  
  
"You're getting a nice little collection of scars there. Next'll be your pointy upper class nose. I did your job, you shoulda been happy. It's very confusing Maven." She said it idly, but her head really was spinning from the Lightning. Maven's face was statue like, but her eyes flared, blood trickled from her wounds.  
  
  
"I had plenty of people on the inside who would have done the job for me without leaving a trace. I never needed you as anything but the stooge you are. I used you. It's quite amazing, I can't even count on you to reliably fuck up or die when you're supposed to."   
  
  
"Yeah, I'll go cry in my pillow. Why the setup?"  
  
"Cut me again and I won't tell you anything." Karin nodded, then rammed her fist into Maven's gut. She gasped for air, then retched. Karin smiled serenely, enjoying the music.  
  
  
"See? I didn't cut you that time."  
  
  
"You think I haven't dealt with your type before? You think I just sit here and sip wine all day? You're nothing to me. You call this pain? You're a rank amateur Karin." Karin's fist rocked her jaw, sending the older woman crashing again into the wall. Karin drew her fist back again and when Maven didn't flinch she held it below her nose.   
  
  
"You enjoying yourself? I am. This worth five thousand to you yet? You're so very smart Maven, don't you look stupid now."   
  
  
"No, you're the stupid one, just an inferior, low rent piece of refuse that got played. I got you to kill a Jarl for me for pocket change." Karin smashed Maven above the ear, sending her reeling. Before she could get her balance Karin was on top of her, knife pressed to her neck just in case she was thinking of crying for help.  
  
  
"Oh Maven, you always know all the right things to say." When Maven's eyes finally refocused she must have seen Karin was serious because something flashed in them.   
  
  
"Stop." She wasn't pleading, but there was an edge in her voice. "This isn't getting us anywhere."  
  
  
"You've got some hard bark on you for a rich bitch, but I'm getting tired of dancing with you." Maven rolled her eyes and Karin took the opportunity to sock her one in the ribs. Maven crumpled up, holding her side. Karin let her wheeze, holding her dagger on her with the other hand. "You must really get off on this, just can't help it can ya?"  
  
  
"You were my patsy." She coughed, leaving a drop of blood on the floor. "You were never supposed to kill Laila, just get caught."  
  
  
"Liar. I know you wanted to be Jarl. How did those Thalmor cocks taste huh?" All through the beating Maven's face hadn't registered shock till now. Her face flushed in embarassment and she looked like she wanted to make a move so Karin held the knife point where she could see it. Maven calmed, then wiped away the trickle of crimson from her lip. One thing Karin had to give her, for a prig Maven took her beatings.  
  
  
"You saw?" Karin winked and fluttered her tongue obscenely. "I underestimated you." She said more demurely and even a little impressed. "On the condition that you don't fly off the handle anymore, I'll talk. I'll have to take any further harm personally."  
  
  
"Heh. You'd feed me to the dogs if you got a chance."  
  
  
"I won't deny that. I was planning on taking a Jarlship in a year or two. Laila had been more independent than I'd like, she'd forgotten who the real power in Riften is."  
  
  
"From up here looks like it's me." She span the knife in her hand and Maven bit back a cutting remark. She'd already left a constellation of blood drops on the wood floor. "I still think you're lying, but go on. Amuse me."  
  
  
"Laila still had uses. She could pass laws I'd rather not take credit for, if she was suitably scared enough. What better way to tighten my grip than a failed assassination? So much for that though."   
  
  
"Poor baby. Why me?"  
  
  
"Why not you? You were just credible enough as a threat, and you wouldn't be missed. You'd failed at everything else you ever set out to do, it seemed reasonable those morons in Mistveil could catch you with advance notice. The Divines really do have a sick sense of humor." She scoffed and Karin tapped the knife under Maven's chin and lifted it so she had to look her in the eyes. Quiet defiance there, Maven still thought she could play for time or talk her way out.   
  
  
"You're still keeping secrets. You hated me from the start."  
  
  
"And?"  
  
  
"You didn't pick me out of a hat."  
  
  
"I knew you from before. Braun the Hammer."  
  
  
"Yeah, good old Braun the Blood Bag, I cut him good, something you should keep in mind."   
  
  
"Maul went outside the Dark Brotherhood that time. You fucked it up and butchered his whole family like pigs." Maven smiled bitterly. "Braun was supposed to send a message, but I couldn't even sign my name to that bit of business. You cost me alot more than five thousand septim that time."  
  
  
"So Maul was in on it." Maven nodded. "Why not just have me hit?"  
  
  
"Two birds with one stone. I used you to tighten my control over Laila and at the same time you'd be a warning for those who fail me. For almost nothing too. You really can't blame me."   
  
  
"Yeah, but I'm immature that way. Funny story Maven, I've got to give it to you, you really slipped it to me good. Guess you're going to die now, say hello to Laila for me." She adjusted the grip on her blade so she could open up Maven in one good slash.  
  
  
"Wait." Her voice finally had some urgency. "You won't kill me."  
  
  
"Why not I wonder?"  
  
  
"It wouldn't be profitable. I'll offer you the same deal I did earlier. Walk away and live."  
  
  
"You wouldn't forget all this, you're not the type. I know how you think, I could finger you for the Jarl."   
  
  
"Who would believe a two time loser like you? You can't threaten me with that, nothing you do matters Karin." Karin pushed the knife into Maven's face, giving her another shallow nick. "So I'm willing to let you walk." She grated. "For now. I told you about sticking that knife in my face."  
  
  
"Then if nothing I do matters I should just decorate the room with your intestines." Karin licked the drop of blood off the knife and Maven gave a sniff of disgust.  
  
  
"You're not thinking this through. Make no mistake, I'll have you killed eventually. In the meantime, take your pitance and run. Because when you leave, you're a dead woman walking."  
  
  
"You're a terrible saleswoman. Well goodbye Maven."  
  
  
"Of course, you could kill me now, get your momentary jollies!" Maven went rapidly, her voice breaking. "Then you'd have the bounty hunters, the Dark Brotherhood, the Thieves Guild! Most of all, I have friends in the Alderi Dominion!" Karin paused. She wasn't too worried about the rest of those assholes, the Dark Brotherhood had passed on her after all, so they were missing balls and brains, but pissing off the Dominion would be like pissing in a frost troll's mouth. Fun maybe, but not good for her future. "Not to mention it would shred whatever's left of your pathetic reputation, killing your employer." Maven continued, her voice steadier now that Karin was listening. "No prospects, everybody in the world wanting to carve themselves a piece of your sorry hide..."  
  
  
"Shut up." The Lightning coursing through Karin argued with some small part of her that could consider the future. If Maven had the Dominion in her pocket, and the Dominion had the Empire, then that meant...Karin mentally reviewed. Half of Skyrim would come after her. At least.   
  
  
"You're bluffing. You're hanging by a thread, nobody'll miss you."   
  
  
"Who do you think fed Maul his lines? Come Karin, you know all about the Dominion. You can't imagine all the dirt I have on them from my days of entertaining. Some would kill to keep that from coming to light, oh yes." Karin's frustration must have shown in her face because Maven's had a trace of superiority, her voice had taken on the drawing room tone again, like a cat coaxing a mouse to step right into it's maw. "You could let me live, then you've got a chance. Not much of one, but at least this'll stay between us. No Dominion. This is my offer."   
  
  
That look more than anything made her want to bleed Maven out, and Karin's hand trembled with the urge. Maven was watching that hand grimly. The Lightning ferried her down a churning rapid of chaotic thought, urging her to satisfy her bloodlust. She'd been played, she wasn't getting paid, and she really wanted to plant her knife in Maven's face and see what grew. It would be a few seconds of pleasure, but it would feel oh so good. Then she'd have to leave Skyrim altogether, because she'd be worse off than those poor bastards who worshiped Talos.  
  
  
Even on Lightning, the tiny rational part of her brain couldn't be argued with. Karin couldn't fuck with the Dominion and the Empire, not without alot of forethought. Maven had found a way to stiff her and even tried to kill her and there wasn't more she could do but give her a few beauty scars. Maven didn't smile when Karin pulled the blade back. Total defeat.  
  
  
"Give me your ring and that necklace. Empty your pockets."   
  
  
"I expected as much." Maven disdainfully removed her jewelry. The delicate threaded necklace twinkled with emeralds and the ring was a piece with a diamond the size of a plum. Karin estimated they might make up for about a third of what she was owed. Maven's pockets yielded a few dozen septim.   
  
  
"Sparkly. Now take that pretty dress off." That seemed to throw Maven off balance.  
  
  
"It's not even your size."  
  
  
"Don't care, I'll hawk it somewhere."  
  
  
"Fuck you." Maven made it sound like an invitation to tea even as her eyes darted to the knife. "I know about you."  
  
  
"Give it to me or I'll strip it off ya and make a necklace of your teeth." Maven hesitated, before briskly pulling the dress over her head, not even bothering to undo the strings. She tossed it on the floor like a bundle of scorpions. A black bra and lacy underwear to match covered her juicy body, a corset pulled tight between them. Karin's leer winked on.  
  
  
"Well you're just ready to go anytime aren't you? Who's plowing this field, Maul? You can tell me." Maven glowered but said nothing. She was eyeing the door again. "Don't bother, I already ran you down once. Let's step over to worm food there and pick up my bag." She gestured with the knife, forcing Maven over to the dead flunky. "Hand it here." Karin rummaged through it without taking her eyes off the older woman before pulling out Haelga's leather straps.  
  
  
"So I can gag you and strap you to the bed, or bash your skull in, which you like better? You want to be conscious for what I do to you?" Karin knew she was calculating her chances of survival if she complied or tried to bolt. She widened her stance, ready to let Maven know she wasn't going anywhere.  
  
  
"Remember what I said." Maven said and walked to the bed, Karin's blade in the small of her back all the while. She tied Maven to the bedpost with the straps, her eyes cutting Karin to pieces as she fixed the gag tight into her mouth.  
  
  
"You comfortable?" Through the leather whatever Maven said was muted and unintelligible but surely another dry "Fuck you." Her eyes followed Karin contemptuously as she ransacked the room. Maven had been right, there was nothing work taking. She was just about to leave when she stopped.  
  
  
She couldn't leave it like this. Not with nothing to show for all her hard work but a couple baubles and another price on her head while Queen Maven here got off with a few cuts!  
  
  
Leave it be, the small voice said, but Karin was already working it out. A few more punches in the gut wouldn't phase Maven. She couldn't cut off her fingers, couldn't leave her any scars she could point to and whine to the Dominion about. Something else then, hurt her some way that wouldn't show, that she'd never tell another living soul about. Her eyes fell on Maven, strapped to the bed and in her underwear, whose face showed dawning alarm. Karin had already fucked the Jarl of Riften, it seemed such a waste not to fuck her replacement.   
  
  
"Must be my birthday!" She leered at the trussed up Maven. Karin climbed Maven as the matriarch struggled, but the straps held her fast. Still grinning Karin grabbed a handful of her breast through the bra and squeezed hard. Maven's eyes burned, enraged, and then she stuck out her chin proudly and went stiff.  
  
  
"Since I'm not getting paid, I'm gonna need a bonus." Maven was putting on a brave front, but Karin saw her try to shrink back when she undid the bra, spilling her sizable breasts. Karin poked one, curious, then gave it another squeeze. Nice big titties. Now that she saw them up close, she could say they were almost as big as Haelga's, more shapely than Laila's. Her body was still gorgeous for her age, if Ingun was going to look like this in twenty so years imagine what she must look like now Karin thought and grew wet. She looked enough like her daughter for her tastes. This would be good practice.  
  
  
"You dirty cow, with your big milk jugs swinging!' Karin smushed them together, then slapped them, watching them jiggle and laughed. Maven's sharp features were flustered, and she turned her head and stared defiantly towards the door.  
  
  
"That's it, play for time." She cooed as Maven refused to meet her gaze. "How long till someone checks up on you? Half an hour? I can make that last a long time baby. That's one thing all you poncy, preening self important little fucks have in common, you're all too important to be disturbed." She leaned close and stuck a tongue in Maven's ear and now the older woman shook her head, furiously trying to get the assassin off her. "Nobody's coming, and even if they were I'd just dead them too." She whispered, before taking a nipple into her mouth and sucking loudly. Maven squirmed and cursed through her gag. "You fucked me on this job, so I'm going to fuck you."   
  
  
Dimly, Karin was aware every minute she spent enjoying this increased the very real threat that someone was going to come through that door, but she promised herself ten minutes with Maven. She hated rich, stuck up bitches like her, always had, with their nasally drawing room voices. Karin grabbed the black panties and yanked up, hard. Maven grunted through her gag as the fabric rode deep into her crevice before finally tearing.   
  
  
"This is the perfect look for you, you know that? Completely at my mercy and no more squawking outta your wordhole."  
  
  
Her hands roved greedily over Maven, not concerned with giving pleasure. Hourglass figure, nice hips. Maven had her pubic hair trimmed into a nice, edible little strip. Karin traced her finger down it, it was a road map to her clit. She wasn't Ingun, but she was Ingun's mother, and Karin savored the similarities as she squeezed and pinched. Maven tried to squeeze her legs close but Karin was insistent; pulling them apart roughly she buried her face between Maven's thighs and inhaled the musky scent. Maven was thrashing, trying to kick but she had no leverage and finally Karin reached up and slapped her hard across the cheek. The thrashing stopped.   
  
  
"I wouldn't eat your pussy if it was diamonds. Well, maybe just a lick." She gave the clit a quick brush with her tongue and Maven bucked her hips into Karin, hitting her in the mouth. She slapped Black-Briar across the face again, the sound like a thunderclap in the room.  
  
  
"Alright, enough foreplay." Karin rubbed her jaw. "I guess you prefer the rough stuff." She sucked on her fingers where Maven could see, getting them wet before shoving them into Maven's canal. The older woman seized up as Karin's invading digits stimulated, explored, taking what they wanted. "This getting you off? I'm kidding, I don't care. C'mon, the fear, the total lack of control doesn't turn you on even a little?" Maven flushed darkly and shouted something at her through the gag.. Karin smiled at this and undid her own shirt, cupping and squeezing her breasts in her hands. Her nipples were rock hard, and she grazed Maven's face with them, who tried uselessly to escape, or maybe headbutt her, Karin wasn't sure.  
  
  
"I bet you prefer to me those Thalmor." Reaching into the bag she pulled out the horker tusk before Maven's angry eyes. "Maybe this'll change your mind. It's nice and thick, but if you can handle two elf cocks this should be nothing. You'll enjoy it when I'm through with you." With an electric rush Karin inserted it into herself, the feeling of ecstasy multipled many times by the Lightning. Haelga had taken her by surprise with it the last time, she had to admit fucking another woman with it had been a huge turn on. She looked down at Maven's exposed form, vulnerable and voluptuous and grinned.  
  
  
"I deserve this." She spread Maven's legs wide, with Karin's weight on her she couldn't close them She pushed the knobby head deep into Maven's womb, chortling as she slid it into the other woman. Maven arched her back and writhed, trying in vain to prevent the invading tusk, but her bucking only increased Karin's enjoyment. The hiss of her pulled in breath was unmistakable through the gag as Karin began to pump her pussy with the member, making her mounds shake **.**  
  
  
"You don't know how long I've waited to do that, and it feels good!" She crooned to the woman underneath her as she slapped against her thighs, stuffing her with the hard shaft. Maven's insides were sloshing from the assault, the headboard banging against the wall as Karin drove deep into her. Tears of rage and humiliation were flowing from Maven's eyes, so Karin licked one. "Salty good. Happy you saved a few septim huh? Oh you look so good this way." She squeezed the plump tits, even as she fiddled with her own funspot. Karin's body was wracked with pleasure and she increased the rhythm, spreading Maven's folds, the smooth horker tusk filling both women completely  
  
  
"I know what you're thinking Maven!" Karin's voice was rising with each thrust. "I'm rich, how could this happen to somebody like me?!" She did a quivering mockery of Maven's voice and her eyes flared at Karin. "Go ahead, beg, cry, it won't do you any good, but it might help me get off!" She took one Maven's nipples into her mouth and bit hard enough to elicit a muffled cry. "Oh! You'll live to treasure these moments. I'll make them last too out on those cold nights when my nipples get as hard as yours are nowwww!" Karin squeezed the thick buns, then stuck a finger in her ass as the matriarch tried to clench tight, she was so close!   
  
  
"Ohhh. I can almost feel it!" Maven shouted for help into the gag until she was hoarse, until her face was beat red, eyes going again and again back to the door. "What a slutty face!" Karin teased Maven's swollen clit mercilessly, stimulating but offering no real release or relief. She whispered the worst depravities into Maven's ears even as she fucked her with vigor. She left shallow bite marks all over her body. The bed spread beneath them was soaked from Karin's juices. With a shudder the assassin felt a great rolling orgasm, and the vibrations travelled up and down the dildo, causing Maven to close her eyes tight and scream into the gag. She was quivering all over as Karin sighed and finally withdrew, sated.   
  
  
It was time for her to go, past time. Was Maven moaning in pleasure or shame? Karin couldn't tell with the eyes shut, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead. It was a start, but Karin was still owed more than three thousand septim, and she'd have the bounties. No, it wasn't enough, and now she knew why.  
  
  
Maven's mouth hadn't been used, and Karin was used to getting pleasured there, but she didn't trust Maven not to be a biter. She looked at the dildo in her hand and grinned again. She was never so inspired as when she was on Lightning. She undid the gag and no sooner had Maven drawn breath for a yell than Karin shoved the dildo roughly into her mouth. Maven gagged and almost choked, spasming.  
  
  
"Better relax or you'll bust some teeth. Breath through your nose." Karin offered in a helpful, friendly tone. Maven tried in vain to scream, to spit it out as Karin held it in place, but all that came out was gurgling. "Who's pussy juice are you tasting? Well, it doesn't really matter at this point. I'm going to show you something really nice." Maven thrashed so hard Karin thought she was going to get free, the bed posts strained audibly, but after a second they hadn't given and Karin relaxed again.   
  
  
She perched herself above the older woman, letting her enjoy the view and her smell till Maven realized what was happening. Her eyes slid helplessly to the door, but otherwise she had gone limp, not wanting to see what was descending. Still holding it in place, Karin sat down on the shaft even as Maven tried to limply shrink away from her oncoming ass. Karin's pale cheeks rubbed against Maven's staring, helpless eyes as she rocked her hips into her face. The assassin went deeper, trying to get it all into herself so Maven's lips would be forced to kiss the folds of her labia. Her quim lubricated the horker tusk, slickening it, flowing down onto Maven's lips and down her chin.  
  
  
She turned around so she could see Maven's eyes underneath her and rutted on top of the Black-Briar matriarch's face. Her face was strained, she was just trying to avoid injury as Karin rode her face, the light in her eyes fading as she retreated into her own mind to escape the reality of her situation. With one last thrust Karin took it all into herself, gushing, and Maven gagged as some of the liquid went into her mouth and nose. Karin climbed off and quickly replaced the gag, but there almost wasn't a need. The haughty conceited snob was gone now, there was only this humiliated animal in her place. Finally Karin felt truly satisifed as she fixed her clothes. She leaned over Maven and whispered in her ear.  
  
  
"You send someone after me, I'll tell anybody who'll listen what I did to Maven Black-Briar, in detail. Your friends over in the Dominion, your enemies, anybody who's afraid of you, they'll never look at you the same knowing I buried this in your wet whoring holes. This is my offer." The creature beneath her moaned through the gag and Karin nodded. She took a step, thought for a moment, then turned back.  
  
  
"One more thing. Your pussy tastes better than your shitty mead! I'm a Honeybrew girl!" She left the phallus jammed up Maven's cunt as she closed the door behind her.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The possibility of running into Maul after what she'd just done filled her with dread so deep it made her light headed. When Karin got to the foot of the stairs, the doorman was looking at her slackjawed.  
  
  
“What, were you expecting a ghost?“ She stuck out her tongue at him and he shook his head.  
  
  
“No, just...surprised. So she paid you?“  
  
  
“And then some.“ She grinned at his stupid expression and casually walked out. As soon as the door shut behind her, she half ran. The picture of one of Maven's grunts finding her naked, tied up and so freshly fucked by Karin made her feel a combination of elation and stupified terror that meshed well with the fading throb of the Lightning. It was almost gone now, leaving her with a tight knot in the pit of her stomach. She felt like she'd just stepped off a cliff, mingled fear and sick excitement for whatever was coming.   
  
  
She probably should have just killed Maven and took her chances, or left it at tying her up, but she felt she'd done the only thing that could leave any satisfaction. Her mind was blank, coming down from what she'd just done and barely sleeping the night before, her feet moved on instinct. Step, step, step. When she looked up, she was unsurprised to find herself in front of Elgrim's Elixirs. She'd planned on seeing Ingun but things had turned bad fast, she couldn't wait around. Ingun was grinding something at the pestle, but Hafjorg saw Karin first, coming from behind the counter with hands flying like frightened bats.  
  
“You! I told you I didn't want to you see your face in here again! Elgrim! Elgrim, she's back! She-“  
  
  
“Shut it you old windbag!“ Karin growled, and the old women fell silent, eyes like saucers. Ingun stepped beween them in case the women started swinging at eachother.   
  
  
“Karin, you can't be here, you can't talk to Hafjorg that way.“   
  
  
"No time." She shoved her letter roughly at Ingun. The ink had run and her spelling wasn't great, but she thought it said what needed said. “Look, I've gotta leave town, right now. I don't know where I'm going, but it'll be somewhere I get paid and appreciated to make people dead. You're a talented poisoner, you could be too. I know you want to get out of here and get away from your bitch mother.“  
  
  
“Wait Karin, leave town?“ She held the letter by her fingertips like it was some dead thing. “What? I'm not a poisoner, I'm-“  
  
  
“Sure, you're an alchemist. You're experimenting, and if you want to see just how far your experiments can go, you need human test subjects. Lots and lots of subjects. I can give you those Ingun. Think what we could do together. “   
  
  
“I'm going to call the guards.“ Hafjorg whispered and Karin turned her half sneer on her.  
  
  
“I told you I'm leaving town, what are ya, deaf?“ She grasped Ingun's hands together until they clasped the parchment. “Please read the letter and think it over.“ She gave Ingun a light peck on the cheek, then thought, and planted a kiss solidly on Ingun's shocked mouth. Hafjorg gasped and Karin smacked her own lips approvingly.  
  
  
“Huh. Tastes like Jazbay.“ As she slammed the door, the two stunned women were still trying to fathom what had just happened. Ingun put a slow hand to her cheek, then her lips, before looking down at the letter.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
After delivering her letter, Karin made a beeline for the city gate but stopped dead in her tracks within sight of it. There was a line of at least two dozen people waiting to get out as guards questioned each one. She saw someone lose their temper and run his mouth and a guard immediately jerked the man out of line and began to roughly frisk him. It wouldn’t be long before they started going house to house if they weren’t already.   
  
  
All it would take was a few of those mouthy guards and her reputation and she’d be on the chopping block in no time, so she turned and started walking to the other side of town. She was mulling her options when she noticed the shadows cast along side hers in the morning sun.  
  
She tried to be nonchalant, but it became obvious the three men were following her. Just to be sure she stopped at a stall, keeping an eye on them out of the corner of her eye, and as one they stopped and then made an unconvincing show of checking out the vegetable stand. She began walking to the other city gate but a group of guards passing like a school of fish convinced her to wait. Yeah, that one was no good either. Walking quick, she darted up the path around one of the buildings. The three men lost interest in vegetables and began walking behind her again.   
  
  
It was a narrow path back here, with city walls on one side and Riften's manor houses on the other, all too tall to scale. If she was fast and lucky, maybe she could use the Talos statue again. She came to Riften‘s cemetary, empty except for one big crypt and stood there, shuffling foot to foot waiting for the Lightning to hit again. It was relatively isolated, hopefully all the guards were busy keeping her boxed in at the gates. The acid taste was creeping up in the back of her throat, and pretty soon she’d feel the jolt and then she’d be up like a shot and out of here. Then when she was clear she'd probably sleep for a week. Two of the men who'd been shadowing her came around the corner. Turning quickly, Karin came face to face with the third, a stout, burly pig with an iron cuirass and great rolls of fat hanging down his neck. They were rough, grizzled, and all carrying hand axes. She was boxed in, and they were well armored. She felt the Lightning beginning to work it's way through her system, but it was taking longer, it was never as strong a kick in back to back doses.  
  
  
"Say, where do you think you're going?" He was a sandy haired giant with a great scar across one cheek.  
  
  
"Just getting ready for the party." She said, backing away. Don't show fear, she had to play for time.  
  
  
"What a coincidence, my friends and I were thinking of throwing a party ourselves."   
  
  
"Then maybe you could take me along." Karin cooed, winking, and their nasty grins faded as she opened her shirt and showed them her pale breasts. She cupped one and pinched the cornelian nipple and half closed her eyes, trying not to overact.  
  
  
"I've seen bigger." The three of thugs guffawed and now it was Karin's smile that slipped, for a moment her gimlet eyes were murderous, then the grin reemmerged.   
  
  
"He doesn't count." She jerked her thumb at the fat one who stopped laughing and other two chortled heartily.  
  
  
"You know, she's really funny." The giant said, wiping a mock tear from his eye. "I'm really going to miss her. Do you even know what Maven put on you?"  
  
  
"Word gets around fast. Nothing up front I'm sure."  
  
  
"Five thousand dead, ten thousand alive. What'd you do to piss her off so bad?" He asked curious, and Karin breathed in the crisp fall air, letting every atom fill her lungs with power. The Lightning was doing it's work now, the colors of the leaves were bright and surreal, the soft chirp of birds deafening. She was starting to feel good about her position in life again. She was fucking invincible. She could tear the wings off a dragon with her bare hands.  
  
  
"I stuffed a horker tusk up her pussy, and she loved it!" She laughed, and it was so genuine the three of them shifted uncertainly. The fat one took a step and raised his axe.  
  
  
"Yeah, well, Maven's got a message for you. Guess we get first and last crack at you, ya crazy bitch. It's us or the guards, unless you want to make things easy and come with."   
  
  
"I'll make it easy as I can. Well c'mon fat boy, come and get it!" She laughed as the spark hit her brain, her skin grew feverish, muscles felt like crazy birds taking off and her breathing picked up, each exhale a snowstorm. They were walking towards her now in what seemed like slow motion, and she drank in each detail of each step as the grin split her face. She didn't run, she exploded off the ground, and in the second it took their faces to register surprise she was already on them.  
  
  
The giant took a swing at her neck and Karin jumped back, enjoying the battle rush, enjoying the breeze on her skin as the axe made it's ponderous arc inches from where her face had been. His arm hadn't even completed the swing before she was underneath him, jamming her knife in his side, into his armpit, twisting the blade so the wound wouldn't heal. His yelp was loud, drawn out, and to Karin's ears funny as hell. She got in four more good stabs before the fat one closed the distance. She felt rather than saw him and rolled away as the axe caught her arm and continued it's descent down into the giant‘s foot. There was another funny scream as the axe cleaved his toes and Karin remembered it would be in her best interest to keep this fast and quiet. On top of that, Karin hadn't time to remove the knife, it was still up there in his side. He collapsed, clutching the remains of his foot as the fat one and his greasy friend held their axes at the ready.  
  
  
Karin felt a maddening itch on her arm and looked down to see the axe had skimmed her. It didn't hurt but the blood welling up felt like boiling, angry insects, and she was just sober enough to realize how lucky she was. It could have taken her arm off.  
  
  
"You fat fuck!" She breathed, examining the arm and the ruined sleeve. "I really liked this dress!" They came at her together from each side and Karin darted through the small gap between them. Bumping off the fat one's shoulder, she span around till she was behind him. He was half turned before Karin expertly planted another blade through the opening in the cuirass deep into his fleshy neck. The blood spurt in a brief jet and he collapsed, half gobbling curses as Karin admired the brilliant crimson droplets spinning through the air then falling to the ground like beautiful hellish rain. The last thug wasn't looking too sure of himself by now, Karin's eyes slid back to look down her nose at the man, her grin a crescent moon, dagger dancing in hand.   
  
  
"Look out! She's got a knife!" She giggled and took a few sloppy swipes at him. He took the bait, swinging wide, and she jumped at him before he could bring the axe back around. He almost made it, the pick end of his axe jabbed her painfully in the breastbone but didn't go deeper than half an inch. Karin used the force of her momentum to knock them both to the ground, by the time his head had struck it she'd stuck him twice in both eyes. She gave his right eye one more hard stab, making sure to hit the brain, then rolled off her victim like a tired lover. She stood up to inspect the damage. That damned gash would need stitching and healing, and the groove on her chest was throbbing, but that's not what was really bothering her.  
  
  
"Well shit! This one's ruined anyway." She muttered. She tore the bloody sleeve off her clothes and tied it off around the wound. There was an entire collection of red spots and blobs on the front of her blouse now from those other two bloodbags. The last one was still fumbling with the blade she'd put inside him and as she finished her field dressing he succeeded in pulling the stiletto out which immediately gushed crimson.  
  
  
"Alone at last! Hey, wait! Where ya going?" She deliberately walked slow as he crawled away on one arm, leaving a slick trail of blood. She knew she didn't have time to play with screamer here but it had been yet another hard day. Hell, she needed these moments. "Come back! I really want to hear that message from Maven!"  
  
  
He tried to take a swing at her with his one hand and lost his balance. She hunkered down and her shiny eyes gleefully admired her own handiwork.   
  
  
"Careful, don't hurt yourself. You and me have alot to talk about." She hung the barbed orcish dagger over his face by her fingertips, swinging it this way and that like a toy.  
  
  
"Don't kill me." He whispered.  
  
  
"Sure, why not? " She said, and for a moment he had a look of hope on his face so absurd it transformed his ugliness into something divine. "But you gotta do something for me. I want you to tell Maven that I received her message, and here's my reply." She put a hand over his mouth and stuck the dagger into the fleshy part of his bicep. His muffled sceam was still pretty loud, and the vibration made her palm tingle. She pushed him down and sat on top of him as she began to saw the muscle in his arm with the dagger's serrated edge. The screaming went on even after she stopped. Tears streamed down his face like a child and Karin was pretty sure he‘d pissed himself. He was bleeding all over now, but nothing fatal far as she could tell. It was amazing what you could live through, but hey, who knew? Karin wasn't a healer now was she? She licked his gooey blood from the blade.   
  
  
"Sorry about that, nothing personal right? I don't get off on this or anything." The tears were still gushing out of his eyes but he wasn't so far gone that they didn't register angry disbelief. "Yeah, I'm a real piece of shit. I want you to tell Maven if anybody else comes after me, anybody, they'll wind up like your friends. So..." She leaned over him, her grin widening as he shrunk back like a frightened rodent, but instead of sticking him again she gave his mangled arm a friendly pat. "If I even think Maven's sent another errand boy after me, I'll just have to kill her whoremaster sons and her daughter too. Think you can remember all that smart boy?" He nodded his head up and down now like a spastic puppet, pitifully hopeful and she let her smile reach her eyes. Not that she'd really hurt Ingun, but this dumb bastard didn't need to know that.  
  
  
"When you give her my message, make sure you're convincing. Here's something to help your delivery." She flipped the dagger once or twice experimentally.   
  
  
"No, please! Please don't! I'll tell her, I'll-hurk!" She put his hand over his mouth again before the noise could become another scream.   
  
  
"I don't have long, so let's make the most of it. Try not to move around, you'll spoil my work." She whispered.  
  
  
He screamed, long and loud, hot blood on the palm of her hand as he spasmed. In the end, he moved around quite alot. It only took a minute, but Karin could tell Maven's goon enjoyed it to the fullest. Nobody interrupted as her dagger made sweet love to the gaping wound in his gut.   
  
  
"Want to go again lover?" She breathed sensously and the man responded with a low, continuous moan. He looked like a half finished butcher's job, which in a way, he was. Well, time to get gone. Sudddenly there was the loud sound of stone scraping and Karin looked around, unable to find the noise she ducked behind the closest building. From the crypt in the center of the cemetary she watched a half dozen tough looking customers emerge. Most of them wore hoods and buckled leather, and they were all armed to the teeth.  
  
  
"This way!" One of them called, hearing her last play thing's moans, and they ran towards the noise, silent as padding cats. Karin faded back into the alley. They were coming out of the fucking walls now! They were whispering amongst themselves, she only caught bits pertaining to the grisly party favor she’d left them when she heard one ask another if they could track Karin. That was all the motivation she needed. She was running out of options, all the exits were blocked, she could feel the whole world closing in on her. She was a red gorgeous mess, she couldn’t go back out on the streets like this.  
  
  
“That’s why they pay me the big septim. Or don’t, in this case.“ She muttered as she went through her pack. So she’d made a couple small mistakes, starting with coming to Riften in the first place. Always plan ahead. She put on the grubby acolyte robe, which at least hid her blood soaked tatters.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Both gates were no good, the statue was out. Well, that left her only two routes, and she was sure they'd be guarded. No being clever about it, just bust through she told herself. Fortune favors the bold.   
  
  
The gate leading down to the docks had two guards on it, but Black-Briar meadery only one. The meadery also had direct access to the dock from the back she knew. The lone guard watched the workers come in impassively, even a Jarl's murder wasn't enough for them to risk pissing off Maven by shaking them down. Between her and the meadery was the market square, and no other guards she could see. Karin saw what she was looking for and grinned.  
  
  
"Hey." She tapped the snoozing, scraggly old beggar roughly with her foot. "How'd you like to make twenty septim?" The hope in his face quickly evaporated when he saw the face looming over him.   
  
  
"Oh I'd...I'd love to, but I'm not fit for work."  
  
  
"Don't be a fucking milk drinking pouf, it's an easy job. See Black-Briar meadery over there?"  
  
  
"Yeah." She pointed at the guard.  
  
  
"I want you to try to go in." He shook his head.  
  
  
"Why?"  
  
  
"Because I don't want that guard looking at me when I do, that's why."  
  
  
"They'll beat me." He said pitifully. Karin sighed and held out her remaining septim.  
  
  
"Thirty."  
  
  
"Well now!" His face lit up and he snatched the coin. "What's a bruise or two?"  
  
  
"Exactly. Wait a minute and then go from that direction." Karin went around the Bee and Barb, coming out of the guard's sightline. When she was right behind the corner, she waved at the beggar who stood up and tried to saunter into the meadery like he owned the place.  
  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"   
  
  
"I just need a drink. Just one drink. I have money!"   
  
  
"Horseshit you do, you never have two coins to your name!" The beggar jingled it in his hand and as the guard bent over to look Karin quietly slipped inside the meadery.  
  
  
"Fine day to you Sister! What can I get you to drink?" The counter man was a young overly friendly Bosmer but his smile quickly fell as Karin walked right past him.  
  
  
"Nothing today, just have to deliver some blessings." She muttered over her shoulder, never slowing. Get out the back and get out of here.   
  
  
"Hey! You can't just go back there! Hey, wait!" His hand clamped down firmly on her shoulder and Karin turned and laid him out with one punch. He groaned and stirred so she stomped him one in the face and he went still. The meadery workers went about their business, stirring vats and rolling barrels as Karin made her way down the stairs. She only made the first flight when Maven's man, some Dunmer bastard in fancy clothes spotted her.  
  
  
"You! Yes, you!" She stopped and sighed. "Who do you think you are coming in here?" Karin glanced over the side, they were on the 2 nd floor, she still had to get down to the ground floor to get to the docks. Only this guy would get there first. No time to fuck around now. She grabbed him by his shoulders and heaved him over the side. He screamed on his way down, then slammed into the wood floor below. There was the audible crack of bone. In a beat all the workers had stopped what they were doing and huddled around the broken foreman.   
  
  
"Oh Mara!" Karin cried and shook her head in mock horror when they looked up at the interloper. "He slipped and fell! I'll get the healers!" They muttered amongst themselves, they were still too shocked to question what she was doing there. She ran to the dock doors and threw them open. The sun and the lake air had never felt so good! The guard standing right next to the door immediately saw her, but her mind was churning on Lightning. She pointed inside.  
  
  
"There's been a horrible accident! You've got to do something!" She sobbed, and when the guard peered in she was already striding down the docks towards the boats. When he turned his head back she was at the dock's edge, looking in vain for a rowboat, but the only thing nearby was loaded with so much cargo it didn't look like it would launch.   
  
  
"Hey! Stop right there! Someone stop that woman!" There were other guards, some of who looked up from what they were doing. Damn, this was it then. Karin ripped the robe off, held her pack tight and took a flying leap off the dock. She hit the freezing water hard, the shock of impact knocking her breath out. She bobbed up, inhaled deeply and began to swim for the far shore. Her arms thrashed, not trying to be elegant or converse energy, just concerned with putting as much distance between her body and the docks as possible. Behind her was a cacophany of shouts and in a few short seconds the first of many arrows whizzed by her ear, close enough that she thought she'd lose it.   
  
  
She dipped under the water when she could to avoid the arrows and try to keep them guessing which direction she was really going. Arrows flew and splashed into the water around her, but as she got farther out they tapered off as their target shrunk in the distance. She stopped for a few seconds to turn around and catch her breath. None of them were going to try and swim after her in their heavy armor. She could make out the guards tossing boxes and barrels off the useless rowboat it's hapless owner begging them to stop, but it would take them at least another minute. It seemed they only had the one, everything else at the dock was too large for a couple of idiot guards to man.   
  
  
So Karin swam, not stopping until she was so sick she retched into the water. This would have been hard any time, but with the pack and the exhaustion from fighting and fucking and Lightning she was struggling to stay afloat, even stay conscious. Riften had receded into the distance, she could just make out the guards rowing after her. By now they'd have men on horseback riding the shores looking for her. Her head was spinning, she could barely tell which way was up, let alone which way the farm was. She dipped under the water again, and this time she stayed under until her lungs wanted to burst. All that was left was instinct, so she swam in whatever direction felt right.  
  
  
Karin finally flopped exhausted onto shore. She was drenched and there was a sharp pebble digging into her cheek, but she didn't want to get up again, ever.   
  
  
"Well don't you look like shit?" Her eyes fluttered, she was just about done, but she recognized the sour voice of the farmer she'd paid a few days ago for just this eventuality.  
  
  
"Come on old man, help me up." She croaked, but he just shook his head, looking down at her with something like benign neglect.   
  
  
"Don't think so. You paid me fifty for a night in the shack. You told me there might be a few guards." He pointed at the activity in the distance. "That is more than a few. That looks to me like the whole damn Riften guard. What'd you do?"  
  
  
"Dusted the Jarl." The man stared down at her like a fish flopping out of water.  
  
  
"That all?"  
  
  
"I might have smacked Maven around a little."  
  
  
"Well not worth the risk now, sorry. You want your money back?"  
  
  
"Hey wait!" Karin fumbled in her pack and pulled the first thing her fingers happened on. She almost thought better of it when she saw what it was, but the old man was already shuffling away and she felt like she was going to pass out. She held out the diamond ring, glittering in the late morning like a minature sun.  
  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"It was Maven's, but I don't think she needs it so much now. It's yours if you get me out of this. What do you think those guards'll give you for me? Another fifty maybe?" The farmer considered for a moment, and then hooked his hands under Karin's armpits and began to drag her up, which was good, because she could hear approaching hoofbeats in the distance.  
  
  
"They're cheap, the lot of them. Well, I guess we can be friends after all. C'mon, get up. Damn, but you're heavy." Her feet moved with his, but in five steps she'd passed out into sweet unconsciousness.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_Probably not the most twisted thing I'll ever write, but close. I stand by my theory that Maven gets around, there's a couple times she or another guy mentions "history" together, I guess it could be business dealings, but seems like those are the only times she softens up. The tough part was getting Karin and Maven to do inconguously stupid things here, but if writers wrote only rocket scientists, you'd have some pretty boring stories, not to mention no slasher genre. Karin's one of those otherwise clever people who will do unbelievably stupid things for lack of impulse control, whereas Maven lets her huge ego get in the way. Wouldn't be the first smarter than thou Bethesda character addicted to their own voice who got a nasty turn on them. C'mon General Tullius, you tried to cut my head off in the first 5 minutes! That's not the kinda thing I just forget._  
  
  
_Next chapter: Yuri? Cousin Yuri from Russia? I don't even have a...oh wait. Next up, a night with Ingun, some consensual sex for a change, and a nasty Tales From The Crypt-esque twist. Do you think just maybe Maven might still be a little sore over the whole thing?_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Lots Of In Between

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Nothing. Wait, nothing? Nothing? Nothing tra la la?

Chapter 6: Lots of In Between  
  
  
  
_  
I hear you calling and it's needles and pins  
I wanna hurt you just to hear you screaming my name  
Don't wanna touch you but you're under my skin  
I wanna kiss you but your lips are venomous poison- Alice Cooper _  
  
  
Karin slumbered, dead to the world until the sun was dipping below the horizon and the light filtering through the shuttered window was like a dying ember. The old man prodded her roughly. Her snoring stopped and she mumbled, clutching the covers and the knife in her hand even tighter. He gave her another poke and this time the reaction was instantaneous as she lashed out blindly. The blade bounced off wood and Karin half opened her eyes. The oar the old man had been poking her with put him out of arm's reach.  
  
"Thought you might try something like that. You're just lucky I don't take that kind of thing personal."  
  
"Why'd you get me up? They find us out?" His expression was morbidly amused as he put the oar away and fiddled with a tray he'd brought.   
  
"Nope. Guards came knocking a couple hours ago looking for you. You're hotter than the sun, they even checked back here. Was a bit worried they'd hear your snoring." It was good they'd already come and gone, it meant they probably wouldn't be watching this place anymore. The shack had one door, from the front all it looked like was storage, stacked to the rafters with barrels and sacks of grain, but that was just for show. Behind that was a wall concealing the room she was in, the only way in a hidden door that blended into the woodwork outside. The farm itself was a wreck, half the crops rotting in the fields. Tiny, isolated, and with it's unfriendly owner, it would likely stay that way. She was well hidden here. Karin tried to get up, groaned, then flopped back down. She could get up, but she wouldn't make it a mile before passing out again.   
  
"That all? I kinda want to sleep."  
  
"After the state you showed up, I thought it'd be good to get some food and water in you. Maybe you want to use the bucket too. Fresh bandages on that arm wouldn't be a bad idea either. Then you can pass out long as you want."  
  
"Say, you're alright old man. Why does everyone call you a bitter crusty fuck? I take back all the-" She'd been sitting up again when the blanket brushed her bare nipples and she started, clutching it before it uncovered her breasts. "What the hell?" The old answered her murderous glare with a nasty grin and a shrug.  
  
"I didn't look. Well, ok, I looked, but it's not like I felt you up. Nice muscle tone by the way. You were bleeding like a stuck pig after your swim, I bandaged you up. Had a big gash on your side too."  
  
"I want my clothes ya dirty goat!" She growled, but she was too tired to make good on any threats, at this point Elgrim carrying his withered wife on his back could have outrun or outfought her.  
  
"Here." He handed Karin her bandana, looking a little more servicable after a wash.  
  
"Har fucking har."  
  
"Your old clothes were soaked in blood, torn up and drenched from your swim. Brought you some new ones though." On the table he'd set a pile of shabby wool clothes. "Beggars can't be choosers."   
  
"Yeah, if that's the look you're going for. Gimme those bandages." He was right, the bandages around her arm had turned pink, so he gave her some healing salve and together they rewrapped it tighter than before. This time it looked like it would hold as she gave the arm an experimental flex. Not great, but she'd be ok if she didn't fight. Moving exhausted her so he hand-fed her a bowl of boiled potatoes and carrots which she washed down with a jug of water. The gnawing hunger was gone and her eyes were drooping shut again. "Didn't expect you to do all this."  
  
"All part of the luxury service you paid for. Thanks for that ring by the way. Probably worth a thousand there, I can get good and sloshed on that."  
  
"You're a pirate, you know that?"  
  
"Comes with the business I run. Maven's ring too. You kill her?"   
  
"She's alive" Karin said blithely. " I just gave her a really hard time, heh." The old man had been admiring the sparkle of the obscene diamond set in the ring, he nodded and palmed it.  
  
"None of my business. I hate that bitch, I hate that dumb Jarl, and I hate Riften and everybody in it." He'd made it clear he was a misanthropic loner when she'd paid him a couple days ago, exactly her sort. With his half leer he looked like an ancient tortoise fantasizing about raping and murdering the hare, but maybe she was just projecting. He'd been only too happy to take her money to hide her when she'd told him she was planning on making trouble. He tucked her in, his eyes lingering on her cleavage, then gathered up the tray.  
  
"Hey old man?"  
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"You're still alright. I've got a favor to ask. Nobody else came asking for me?"  
  
"No. Who else were you expecting?"   
  
"You know Ingun Black-Briar?"  
  
"Sure, everybody knows creepy Deathbell Ingun."  
  
"If she comes looking for me and she's alone, you bring her here." He stared at her for a long moment.   
  
"Let me make sure I understand you right. You killed the Jarl, assaulted Maven, and near as I know all Riften wants your head on a platter, and you let Ingun know you're here?" Karin just smiled and nodded at all this. The old man's eyes were taking on a glint she didn't like so she ran a thumb across her dagger under the covers. She was laid up but she thought she could still take him. Maybe. "You're putting me in danger."   
  
"I laid out the Jarl for Maven, so she won't be telling Ingun anything. Or anyone what I did to her either. Far as Ingun knows I'm just a friend, she won't know I was involved anything, it'll be fine."   
  
"It's criminally fucking stupid. Why does Ingun have to know you're here at all?"  
  
"Because I want to fuck her. Since you've got Maven's ring, I thought I'd take something else of hers with me when I blow this Hold."   
  
"You want to...I'll be." His leer reemerged and then he laughed. "Where were you when I was thirty years younger?"   
  
"Swimming around in my da's balls. Now let me sleep will ya?" Karin's eyes were heavy as she sank back into the flat pillow. She was out again even before the old man slid the panel back out of the wall and took his tray, still chuckling. With any luck he'd do what she asked instead of killing her in her sleep.  
  
  
  
  
Dreamless darkness again. Thirst woke her in the middle of the night, so Karin swung her legs out of bed, staggering over to the small candle the old man had left and lit a lantern. Her senses told her it was after midnight, or around it. She drank heartily from the jug and glanced through the shutter. Black night outside, shadows of trees and the whisper of leaves blowing in the breeze. Wolves and bears out there maybe, but no guards. She stretched, feeling a pang at her side, but other than that and fatigue, she'd be fine. Maybe take a couple more hours and leave before first light. She'd help herself to some food from the store room then get some distance from Riften, maybe find a horse she could steal. Then north, it was really the only direction she could go. She'd figure out the rest as she went along.   
  
No point in following any plans, the whole job had been a clusterfuck. She'd been stiffed on her pay, and Maven would be sending guys after her for a long time. Worst of all, no Ingun. She would have been the one thing to balance it all out Karin thought. At least she still had plenty of Lightning, and a few pieces of jewelry from Laila and Maven she could hawk. Not the money she was promised, but it would get her out of this Hold. Yeah, it's not so bad she reasoned. It was important to see the silver lining and the little rainbows when life took a great steaming piss in your hat. She probably wouldn't get any more jobs where discretion was the word, but maybe she'd see an increase in hits where people were less discerning, where a bloodbath was even preferred. She'd finished a job she was never meant to finish, they couldn't take that away from her. Still, no Ingun. She'd have been lying to herself if she was surprised she'd been stood up, but back in Elgrim's Karin had thought she saw a moment of excitement on Ingun's face. She sighed in disappointment.   
  
There was a light knock on the wall. The fog cleared from her head, and in an instant Karin had extinguished the lantern and had her dagger in hand.   
  
"Who is it?" She yodeled, tightening her grip on the blade. She was wearing bandages and nothing else. It was dark enough she could get the drop on one person, anymore and she'd have trouble.  
  
"It's Ingun." The calm voice splashed cold water on her adrenalin leaving Karin's legs feeling wobbly. "Karin? Are you there?" She stared dumbly at the door before taking a deep, shaky breath.  
  
"Just give me a minute to put my clothes on." She croaked as she hurriedly pulled them on. They were cheap scratchy wool, but Karin paid it no mind, lost in fantasy. She pulled aside the door and there was Ingun, startled at the wall seemingly sliding back on it's own. She was cast in shadow, with a small pack on her back and a cloak hid her hair, but it was Ingun all right. Karin looked to make sure the coast was clear then pulled the young woman inside.  
  
"Why's it so dark in here?"   
  
"I thought you might be someone else. Gimme a second." She relit the candles, giving the room a comfortable glow before reclosing the shutters. She'd completely given up before, now that Ingun was here she was a mess of nerves. Ingun took the hood off and set down her pack, taking in the room, then Karin's bandages.  
  
"You're hurt."  
  
"Yeah, they really took the piss out of me but I'm on the mend now. I didn't think you were coming."  
  
"I almost didn't. Maul's always watching me like a hawk and I wasn't sure what to expect when I got here. Then there was the business in town."  
  
"Yeah, listen, about that kiss..." Ingun blushed and shook her head and Karin felt hot roses bloom in her own cheeks  
  
"Not that. They say you killed the Jarl."   
  
"That what they say?" Karin crossed the room in a single stride and rechecked the shutters, listening intently. Her hand was on the blade again, suspicions kindled. "Yet here you are."  
  
"You don't need to act so paranoid. Everyone knows it was you. Those mercenaries, Indaryn, the guards. You made alot of noise on your way out."   
  
"Anyone follow you? Maul?"  
  
"There's no one out there. I had to be sure no one was watch, that's why I came so late."  
  
"So what if I did kill Laila? Would that bother you any?" She was still looking for the hordes of guards who had to be crouched out there.  
  
"I guess I'd want to know why before I make any judgements. I thought I'd hear you out, I felt like I owed you that much." If guards were out there she couldn't see them, so Karin took a breath, collecting herself. If she hadn't ratted her out, Ingun couldn't be too broken up about Laila. Or she was so naive she didn't realize what kind of danger she was in being in the same room with a multiple murderer like Karin. Either explanation suited her just fine and Karin finally relaxed.  
  
"Well you came, that's all that matters." Ingun nodded, her hazel eyes just watching with that detached calmness of hers after Karin's theatrics. They were expectant, demure, unafraid. Karin licked her lips, she hadn't expected Ingun to come at all, or know anything if she did. "Alright, I'll level with you. Yeah, I killed Laila, but it wasn't personal. You're an alchemist, I kill people for money. Brewing Lightning is just something I've got on the side right now till I make enough."  
  
"So you were working for the dealers all along? Is that where you got all that skooma? " Ingun asked.  
  
"What?! Fuck no! What makes you think that? Your mother hired me."  
  
"That's what everyone's saying. Maul hired you to take care of the skooma dealers and they must have paid you off to take out Laila." Karin just stared at Ingun in disbelief, then slowly her grin emerged and she chuckled cynically.  
  
"That conniving bitch. I've gotta hand it to her, your mother spun it beautifully. That's so stupid I bet everybody ate it up."  
  
"It's nothing to laugh about, Maul's in alot of trouble over you."  
  
"You kidding? Your mother''ll be the Jarl by next week, Maul's probably going to get a raise and replace that bed wetter Anuriel."  
  
"Maybe you're right..." Ingun said cautiously.   
  
"Damn right I'm right." She calmed down and gave the alchemist a pat on the shoulder, trying not to let the touch linger. She really wanted to sink her fingers into the smooth flesh. "Look, I'm sorry. My nerves are shot, your mother really screwed me every way possible. Hired me just to take all the blame, didn't pay me. When I complained she sicked her dogs on me. That's why I had to leave in a hurry and why I couldn't say goodbye before.  
  
"Is that why you asked me out here? To say goodbye?" Karin had admitted to being an assassin and working for her mother and the girl had barely blinked. Now the thick lashes were credulous, and there was a hint of accusation.   
  
"No." Karin said quickly, taken aback a bit. "Did you want me to say goodbye?"   
  
"No, of course not." She hadn't been sure if Ingun still thought of them as friends, but that flash of emotion told Karin she was probably still her only social link. Now that she was here, she was as good as halfway in her pants.  
  
"Look, let's sit down and talk." Ingun pulled up a wooden chair and Karin for her part flopped down on the bed.   
  
"You're handling all this really well, so I feel comfortable telling you this. I asked you out here because I've got to get out of the hold and put some distance between me and your mother. I was thinking of making my way out to Solitude like we'd talked about. I'd do alot better with a partner. I want you to come with me." Surprise flickered over Ingun's face, it was more of a reaction than she'd had learning Karin was Laila's killer.  
  
"That's really sudden. I know we'd talked about it but I didn't expect...wow. I don't know. No, I couldn't, I'm not an assassin!"  
  
"Never said you were. In my line of work, people always need potions and poisons, you can do the same thing you've been doing, just for different people. I still hope to make it on Lightning, but that takes money. In the meantime, taking contracts keeps me fed."  
  
"But even if I didn't do it myself...I'd be helping you kill. It's...wrong." She said awkwardly, more like she was trying to convince herself. Karin just shrugged.  
  
"Think of it this way. Test animals, or fuck it, let's say some people who no one'll miss, sometimes they gotta die in the name of experimentation. It's nothing personal. It's all for the greater good, the advancement of alchemy, right?" Ingun nodded. "What I do is no different, it's just a job. It's not like I enjoy it." She lied.   
  
"Me either. It really is all just to further my understanding."  
  
"Right. So I dusted a few people who were going to get dusted anyway. If it wasn't me it'd be someone else. When I retire to a life of leisure and Lightning I won't even hurt a fly, swear to the Divines." Behind her back, Karin was crossing her fingers. "So come along and watch my back. If you want me to stick to killing people who deserve it, I can do that too. No shortage of those in this great big world. With all the money we'd make..." Karin spread her hands dramatically. "Ingun's Elixers! It'll be three, no, four stories tall! They'll know it from Cyrodil to Hammerfell! I'll even let you take credit for Lightning if you want, long as you kick me back the septim."  
  
"Well you certainly paint a vivid picture." There was a ghost of a smile at Ingun's cherry lips now, the one Karin had seen when they went drinking. "I couldn't leave though. I've got my work with Elgrim's and my family and-"  
  
"You know what they call you behind your back? Deathbell Ingun. C'mon, there's nothing holding you here, just stuck up shits who let you down and shut you out."  
  
"It's really not that bad here. I think you're just bitter because of what happened with my mother."  
  
"Course I'm bitter, but doesn't mean I'm wrong. I just see it the way it is, I think we're alike that way. They don't appreciate your work the way I do. You know what'll happen if you stay here?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing. You'll just run peon errands for those two old farts while they make the real money. They'll never trust you with any important work, better to play it safe. What if Ingun accidentally poisons someone, right? That'll go on a few years, then one day your mother'll persuade them to fire you, and your alchemy'll be nothing but a weird little hobby she forced you to outgrow." Ingun's face had gone red at "weird little hobby", she seemed about to say something but choked back a biting response. Karin could see the anger there fighting with realization.  
  
"You'll probably wind up marrying some rich Nord turnip your mother picks for ya." Karin sighed regretfully, stretching out on the bed. Inside she felt easy as a cat playing with a mouse she was getting ready to devour. "She'll have you manage the meadery or something. Somewhere you're not dealing with the public too much. Ledgers and accounts, doesn't that sound like fun?" Ingun's face had steadily fallen during Karin's spiel, now it was crumbling as she plunged each chosen word into the alchemist's heart like knives.   
  
"That's NOT what I want." Ingun shook her head furiously.  
  
"Course, you could always come with me. No one would expect that. I mean, it beats living life as a punchline." She was quiet as Karin let her last words simmer in the girl's head.   
  
"Not that I'm not grateful for the offer but I need to think this over. I've got some questions."  
  
"Sure, ask away."  
  
"Why me? There must be dozens of other alchemists you could work with."  
  
"Nobody as talented as you, and nobody I'm friendly with." Ingun blushed, then her face hardened.  
  
"Be serious. I know I'm still inexperienced." Karin kept her expression casual, but Ingun saying those words made her feel a warmth again between her legs again and she squirmed. She was feeling alot more confident and alot less tired now.  
  
"Maybe I'm looking for someone I can mold a bit, someone I can...train." She killed the grin before it could form and arranged her face in what she hoped was sisterly understanding. "I'd take a friend I can trust over Elgrim any day." Ingun was silent for a long moment. When she spoke her voice was even but Karin could hear the undercurrent that was almost pleading.  
  
"You were interested in my research right? You weren't just using me for Lightning were you?" Her mouth was neutral but Ingun's eyes begged understanding in a way Karin found heartbreakingly vulnerable, like a horn calling to her raging libido to hunt.   
  
"Ingun my friend, when I set eyes on you, your alchemy skills were the last thing on my mind."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ingun's face was distrustful, she was waiting for Karin to give her the wrong answer.  
  
"It means I like you Ingun. Alot."  
  
"Well, thanks. I like you too Karin." Nothing to read into there as Karin sucked in her disappointment and forced a grin. No, don't push her too hard yet, get her further away from Riften first. There'd be plenty of time on the road to "get to know" Ingun. "Is that all?"  
  
"How many reasons you need? So what say? You coming with me?"  
  
"If you're feeling up to it. You convinced me." Everything was light for Karin. The victory felt almost as good as an orgasm.  
  
"YESSS!" Karin pumped her fist in celebration and grabbed Ingun by both shoulders, shaking her excitedly. "You won't regret this Ingun, this'll be the best decision of your life!"  
  
"I-I-m-m h-a-p-p-y-y-y y-y-o-u-r-r'e-e h-a-p-p-p-y!" Ingun managed and Karin stopped, trying to contain herself. She'd been worried she'd have to turn nasty if Ingun had refused to come with. Karin was the fuck them and leave them type but for once she hadn't been eager for that. After all Ingun had done for her it didn't seem sporting.   
  
"Sorry. Just real excited about our partnership."  
  
"So what's the plan?"   
  
"Depends on what you brought in your pack there." Ingun laid out the contents. She'd brought some dried food, some changes of clothes, her alchemist's satchel, and quite a bit of septim. Karin guessed there was a couple hundred here. "You fucking liar." She breathed, and now Ingun looked concerned.   
  
"What?"  
  
"You're packed to travel."  
  
"You've got me." A small smile broke out on her face. "I'd made up my mind before I even came here. I was hoping against hope you'd still ask me, but I didn't know if you'd, well, feel the same way." She blushed and Karin felt her cheeks and nethers burn. " I just wanted to see what you'd say. Anyway, it's a good thing I did, otherwise we'd have a harder time of it." It was the playful Ingun Karin had only caught glimpses of in front of her now.   
  
"Were you testing me?" Ingun just continued to smile, she'd been found out but she didn't look guilty.  
  
"I was...curious." She shrugged, and gave Karin a layered look that teased and promised more. That was enough for the assassin, who returned her smile. She went back to rummaging in the pack again and this time came out with a bottle of wine and two carefully packed glasses.  
  
"Oh this! This is nice!" Karin examined the bottle and her eyes lit up. It was Argonian blood wine, the good kind too. A bottle like this went for two hundred on the cheap end. She turned back she saw Ingun's smile had only broadened. The bottle of wine seemed to only confirm all of Karin's hopes. This was too good to be true.   
  
"Well this calls for a celebration! To our partnership!" She pulled the cork and was about to take a swig when she hesitated, realizing what she was doing. Ingun was just watching her with calm amusement and eyes that were too sly. She did know poison after all. Karin sniffed the bottle and poked an eyeball inside, the whole thing seemed a little off. She offered the bottle to Ingun. "I'm such a thoughtless pig. Why don't you have the first drink since you brought us this fine wine."  
  
"Oh no, I think you should definitely drink it first." Ingun chuckled, and Karin shoved the bottle at her again.  
  
"I insist." She said tersely, and Ingun took the bottle and poured herself a glass. The long lashes fell and Ingun swallowed, her throat working before taking the raspy breath of the amateur alchoholic.   
  
"That's so strong." She coughed a little, color blooming in her cheeks. "But so good. There. Now you know it's not poison." Karin took the bottle back sheepishly as Ingun favored her with a withering look. She took a huge pull, draining a quarter of the bottle at a draught, then coughed herself.   
  
"Dibella's perky tits, that IS good!"  
  
"You have such a way with words. So you trust me now?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm real sorry. It's been a long day. I've had axes swung at my face, arrows shot at my head, and that was before my morning swim across the lake. Pretty sure your mother sent the fucking Thieves guild after me too. So you'll just have to cut me a little slack this once."  
  
"I guess I'll forgive you and come with you, just this one time. More wine? You can use the glass this time."  
  
"Sure, sure." She poured herself the other glass and refilled Ingun's and they clinked the glasses together in toast. They sat together in the candle light together, savoring the room and the wine. Karin felt good, everything was alright again. Ingun was coming, and whatever was going to happen would happen now or later. She thought about what Maven would think when word got back her own daughter had ditched her for her rapist and grinned into her wine.   
  
"Something funny?"  
  
"I was just thinking what a grand shack we're sharing a bottle of rich people's wine in. I never drink something like this unless I steal it."  
  
"Well, be it ever so humble."  
  
"No, it's not good enough for tonight. You brought the wine and I didn't bring anything. Except..." She slyly pulled the flask of Lightning from her pocket and took a small nip. Just enough to get her buzzing without driving her out her head. Ingun was looking at her curiously.  
  
"Is that the Lightning we brewed?"  
  
"Sure is. I don't mind telling you, it's the best batch I've ever had. You want to try?"  
  
"Is it addictive?" She was shy again, and nervous.  
  
"Course not. I take it all the time."  
  
"I don't know. We used alot of skooma."  
  
"C'mon, what happened to adventurous, confident Ingun from a few minutes ago?" Ingun considered the flask, then took another big sip of her wine. "I'll be honest, it's going to make you a little crazy, but in a good way. It beats getting drunk all to hell. It'll be like nothing you've ever felt before. Just take a tiny sip."  
  
"Just a sip." She took the flask from Karin, really drinking no more than a spoonful, but with someone like Ingun that would be fine. She'd feel a kick without screaming at her dead great grandmother in the early hours of the morning. "It's sweet, I can really taste the moonsugar."  
  
"Just relax, it's good to keep your mind busy. You've got a horse?"   
  
"Just mine, it's outside. I don't feel it yet." That would save some trouble. It wouldn't be so bad riding double until Karin found one she could swipe, and in the meantime, that meant they would be real close.  
  
"Let it come on slow, it'll be awhile. So why'd you agree to come with me?"  
  
"You just seemed so sincere at the Bee and Barb. You were right about society being just a bunch of strangers, like you said. Those people aren't important to me. Not really. They never took the time to get to know me or showed an interest in my research like you. I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am."   
  
"Now you're talking!" Karin had another swig of wine, then decided since she was a veteran, she could handle another nip of Lightning. If she did as well with Ingun as she thought she was doing, leaving a few hours late wouldn't be such a big deal. If they wound up having a late night, the old man would put them up another day. Ingun was looking a bit flushed now. "How do you feel?"  
  
"Good, I feel good. It's the wine."   
  
"Hey Ingun. About being yourself, and not conforming to what society thinks and all. What   
do you think of me?"  
  
"I think it's great how you do whatever you want, I wish I could live like that Karin."  
  
"Who says you can't? What I meant was, do you like me?"  
  
"Of course! I'm so lucky to have a friend like you. It got so lonely at Elgrims, I thought if I buried myself in my work nobody would notice. I didn't think anyone liked me." Ingun's confession was so sickening in it's sweet ignorance of Karin's intentions, she couldn't help herself anymore. The candle light and the wine were doing their work, and it might be too soon, but she didn't care. She leaned in, slow and deliberate, and when Ingun looked up from her glass of wine, Karin was already in her space.  
  
"What are you doing?" She asked, oblivious. Karin didn't answer, channeling every ounce of sex appeal she had into her eyes, willing Ingun to surrender to seduction. "Are you trying to hypnotize me?" She pulled back a bit from Karin, then fell over, giggling. Karin rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the tank yet, but she was buzzed enough for a little bravery. Fuck it, may as well go all in, she could always blame it on the wine.  
  
"If you're going to make me say it I'll say it. I think you're the most attractive woman I've ever seen." Ingun stopped giggling, and time stopped for a beat.   
  
"You, wait, what?"  
  
"Remember that kiss in town? What'd you think, it was a friendly little peck?"  
  
"I...don't know what I thought. I almost convinced myself it didn't happen."  
  
"Did you like it?"   
  
"I don't know. I thought we were just having a friendly drink." Ingun's voice was a bit fuzzy from wine, but Karin's instincts told her she wasn't totally opposed to another kiss.  
  
"Oh I can be very friendly."  
  
"I don't-" Not waiting for permission or rushing this time, Karin leaned in. Against character she closed her eyes as she kissed Ingun, their lips melding softly. She forced herself to have a little class and not stick her tongue into the stiff, surprised mouth. Ingun squirmed and Karin let her break the kiss after a second's hesitation.   
  
"Karin, I like you alot but I think you're getting the wrong message." She said it gently, apologetically, but hadn't Karin felt an echoing pressure there for a moment?   
  
"Are you sure?" She leaned in again and Ingun drew her head back. Ingun was watching her now like a snake about to strike, but Karin thought maybe she wanted to be bit after all. Bit and nibbled and licked and sucked. Not to be deterred she leaned in further, and when Ingun didn't move again, their lips met. She kissed Karin back amateurishly, and Karin encouraged her by gently flicking the tip of her tongue against her lips. Her experienced hands crept over Ingun's shoulders and that's when the alchemist pulled away again. Karin stiffled a frustrated groan.  
  
"Don't be ashamed, it's the only way to live. If you want to come with me, come with me. If you like me then go ahead and kiss me. If you want to brew stuff that would kill a mammoth with one sniff, then baby that's what you've got to do. I'll do anything you want to do Ingun." Ingun pushed her away, without force, and Karin bit her lip. She was hot and ready but she didn't want to fuck things up now that she was doing so well.   
  
"Karin, not...no." Her every sense told her to tear Ingun's clothes off. To play out a long game like this and not just force herself on Ingun wasn't something she was used to. She wouldn't force it, she'd break down the alchemists defenses gradually until she willingly gave herself to Karin. It would be something special. Of course, she could just slip into Ingun's bag some lonely night on the road and convince her with her tongue that men were overrated anyway she thought.  
  
"Sorry if I came on too strong." Karin said sheepishly. Ingun herself was red with booze and embarassment. "The wine."  
  
"It's alright. I think we have alot in common, just not that." They lapsed into awkward silence for a bit. "So when we get to Solitude, what then?" Ingun asked, sounding more chipper about it than merited.   
  
"I know a few people who'll set us up. I'll have to sell off a little Lightning or get a job quick, but after that, I'll set us up somewhere we can brew. We can talk about that more on the road." Karin said it cooly, annoyed that Ingun had changed the subject and the girl's face fell.  
  
"Hey. No need to be angry."  
  
"I'm not angry. You don't want to talk about it, then we won't talk about it. I'm just tired and I'm still hurting from getting cut up earlier in the day."  
  
"Listen." Ingun said with infinite care, and Karin just made like she was interested in the wall. "I was just surprised. I get nervous around people. I really like you Karin. Alot. I want us to be friends. This is all new to me and, well..." Karin's eyes slid back towards Ingun, she was wringing her hands together.   
  
"Well what? Spit it out Ingun, stop worrying about what I'll think."  
  
"I know we're both different from everyone, but I was raised a certain way, it's tough for me to get over what people think of me. I'll try to do better and just do what I feel like, the way you do." She climbed closer to Karin, who still trying to play it cool watched her with baited breath. Ingun leaned in, then pitched forward awkardly right onto Karin. Their lips met and Karin's eyes widened before going half lidded. Ingun's eyes were closed. She hadn't had a tender kiss like it as long as she could remember, and she was as stunned by it as one of her female victims might be when she ravaged them. Her fingers quivered with impulses, but somehow she fought it off until Ingun broke the kiss and looked at her shyly.  
  
"So?"  
  
"I thought you didn't like that."  
  
"A kiss for a kiss. You offered to take me out of Riften and opened up to me, it seemed the least I could do." Ingun smacked her lips. "I can't believe I kissed another woman, my mother would die of embarassment." She laughed, trying to play it off, but Karin could see her face wasn't just flushed from the wine.   
  
"Ingun." Karin said seriously, sitting back up. "Who gives a flying fuck what your mother thinks? We're leaving this place." She edged closer, and before Ingun could pull away she kissed her again, more deeply than before. She draped herself over the woman, forcing her to lean back. Ingun's arms pinwheeled, clutching Karin so she wouldn't fall and Karin put a supportive hand beneath Ingun's back as she laid her out. One hand beat at Karin's back, weakly, before clutching her shoulder. Her breath sighed into Karin's mouth, a sweet taste of wine and woman. Her hands ran amateurishly over Karin's body, slipping down her sides, causing her to coo as the nails stroked her.   
  
"These damn things!" She grated before pulling the wool clothes off, giving Ingun's fingers access to her flesh. Ingun deepened the kiss and when Karin felt the alchemist's hand caress it's way over her skin and trace a sensual line down the small of her back, then around her thighs she nearly lost control again. No need to rush. This was happening.   
  
"Is this really real? Did we do that? I''ve never felt anything like this before." Ingun's voice was astonished at herself, her face embarassed. It made Karin so horny thinking of having it muffled against her pussy.   
  
"I haven't even started yet. I want you Ingun. Do you want me?" This was important to her this time, it would confirm everything she'd sensed up till now. Ingun was pliable and willing now, and mostly sober, and that was close enough to consent for her, but Karin wanted Ingun to choose her. Karin could keep things going for quite a bit with good sex but things never worked out with her and other women if she forced it.  
  
"I think I want to kiss a bit more."   
  
"You're so cute." Karin kneeled before Ingun in her bra and panties, giving the alchemist her warmest smile. It felt foreign on her face, but Ingun returned it. She was blushing furiously, hands tentatively reaching out to find Karin's toned arms and legs, the hard, flat belly. With more self discipline than Karin ever knew she had she removed Ingun's clothes carefully, reverently even. She undid Ingun's collar, then immediately kissed the smooth white neck, inhaling the other woman's fragrance and Ingun's head lolled. She undid the belt then pulled the fine clothes off and took a deep breath. Ingun was wearing a white bra and panties. She wasn't just a pretty face, her body also promised perfection. She was going to make a meal out of the alchemist and she wanted to savor her fully as she devoured her. Ingun saw her look, and smiled radiantly, pleased that she was desired. Her unsure hands paused, then slid along Karin's sides, then to her back. The assassin closed her eyes, head swaying as Ingun undid her bra. Her hands explored Karin's breasts with more than a platonic curiousity, fingers like whispers of fire on Karin's pale skin.  
  
"Yours feel different than mine. You're so fit, I can't believe how soft you are here. Mmmm." Ingun was also swaying now, as if hearing music, and Karin could feel the tell tale shudder of Lightning coming on. She was feeling it now too, with a small dose together with the wine it would be a mellow high without the nausea and paranoia. "You're so beautiful."  
  
"I know." Karin grinned, running her hands all over the alchemist, and through the brown braids in her hair. "It's the Lightning." She didn't need the drug to know how gorgeous Ingun was, but it fully brought out all her beauty.  
  
"It's incredible. I had no idea emperor parasol moss could alter perceptions like this! Can I have some more?"  
  
"You've had enough, I don't want you losing your mind." Karin scrunched her face up in confusion at herself. What was it, conscience? What was she doing? No, no power games, no force this time. "I just wanted you to take enough to intensify the pleasure."   
  
"Just a bit more." Ingun whined. She reached for the flask and Karin snatched it playfully away. Popping it open, Karin had another small swallow, hoping to get there with Ingun without impairing herself much further. She wanted to experience every moment of this to it's absolute limit. "That's not fair!"  
  
"C'mere and I'll give you some." She took another swallow and held it, this time grinned at Ingun with her mouth closed, cheeks full like a squirell.   
  
"Don't tease me! Can I have some or not?" Karin nodded, enjoying hearing Ingun say it immensely, before kissing the alchemist again. Ingun squirmed and sputtered before accepting the sweet liquid from the other woman's mouth. Karin threw her tongue in for good measure.  
  
"Ah! I can't believe you did that!"   
  
"Well it is my Lightning." Karin answered. "How's the experiment so far?"  
  
"Mmm. It's the best I've ever conducted. Since you shared, I'll share something with you." Ingun undid her bra and stepped out of the panties. Karin took her in as one examines a fine piece of art. She couldn't help feeling equal parts lust and jealousy. She really was the hottest thing Karin had ever seen. Ingun's look was pure steam, her body something Karin would have killed to possess. It was a crime for someone with such a nubile, young body to hide something like this underneath concealing clothes, even if she was a naive antisocial obsessive. If Karin had a body like that, she'd be running Skyrim, not Elisif the Fair! Ingun's breasts were the perfect size and shape, a solid round handful that only came around when one was in their early 20's and in the flower of youth and beauty. Her body gently curved down to squeezable hips, her cornelian nipples hardening before Karin's rapt gaze. Enough, it was enough, and Karin jumped her, eliciting a squeal from Ingun.   
  
Their hands roamed eachother, bodies joining as their tongues met again and again. Ingun's fingers ran all over the assassin like playful, curious spiders and Karin took one of the fingers, slipping it into her mouth and sucking on it as if it were a man's member. Ingun kissed Karin's chest liberally, examining the raven haired woman's erect nipples with the same kind of interest she'd shown the Lightning at Elgrim's. Ingun's lips closed around one, sucking gently, then biting, even as her hand went down her spine, causing Karin to shiver with chills of pleasure. She took Ingun's hand and moved it down to her wet pussy, causing the alchemist to jerk away when her fingers touched her delta as if scolded  
  
"You're so hot there. What do I-?"  
  
"Use your fingers." Karin moaned. Ingun was adorable in her efforts, but Karin never complained when someone else did all the work. Ingun's hand massaged her, fingers tracing Karin's folds, before easily slipping her index finger inside the assassin and caressing. Karin felts herself rock with a minor orgasm, shaking black hair out of her eye so she could look at Ingun. "I like everything about you." She said, kissing Ingun hard as she held her face with one hand. "I like your manner, I like your poisons, I like every twisted, fucked up thing about you Ingun Black-Briar."   
  
"I think I love you." Ingun said softly, and Karin's body shuddered in response. She didn't care if it was just something careless for a girl having her first experience to say, it was enough for her. "Oh! So good!" She thrust herself onto Ingun's fingers, hands creeping down and squeezed the alchemist's wonderful tits, massaging them in her hands, and it was her turn to cry out now. She suckled on them, nibbled, thinking how long this had been in coming and how every shitty thing that had happened up till now was worth it just for this.   
  
"I love you too!" Karin screamed, not knowing if it was true or even what it meant as their labias ground together and Ingun hissed in breath in response. They docked with eachother, Karin ferverntly wishing she'd kept Haelga's horker tusk so she could fill Ingun now, but this would have to do. She was sure there'd be a next time. Ingun hovered over her and suckled on Karin's breasts and she allowed herself a satisfied sigh. Usually she had to do all the work but Ingun was moving on her own and seemed to relish the taste. She positioned herself on top of the alchemist now, and rubbed the small, hard stones of her nipples against Ingun's erect nubs, doing circles around the pink tips. She thrust against Ingun's legs, thighs slapping loudly together, until Karin's hand slipped down between them and fingered Ingun furiously.  
  
"Faster! I-I've never felt that before!" She cried, and Karin increased her pace until she felt Ingun gush hard, soaking her fingers. With a soft pop she pulled them out of the young alchemist and sucked them clean where she could see. To her surprise, Ingun leaned in and kissed her again. "My whole body is tingling now Karin, I want you to taste you." She whispered, while her eyes screamed at Karin to fuck her silly.   
  
"You're so giving." Karin sighed, truly happy to have a partner who she didn't have to force to do anything. She could see it in her eyes, Ingun had lost her inhibitions, only concerned with pleasure. Karin held Ingun's head between her legs, as soon as she felt the lips on her cunt she almost came right there. Ingun's first hesitant kiss wasn't much, but when she gave Karin a confident hard lick, she felt bolts of pleasure shoot all through her body. Ingun looked up and wiped glistening quim from her lips.  
  
"More?" Karin nodded frantically, and let the girl eat her up like candy. She bit her lip, squirming and tossing her head in ecstasy, sometimes directing Ingun to lick or nibble a certain way to help get her off even harder. Ingun had gotten into the spirit of things though and didn't need instruction. Everytime Karin saw Ingun's smoldering eyes looking up at her from her pussy she felt like creaming herself again. She saw Karin looking and grinned, then assaulted her with a series of purposeful licks that made the assassin's eyes cross. Ingun worked her way down to where Karin's folds met and stuck her tongue inside, giving her a soul kiss and a Lightning enhanced orgasm.  
  
"I can't believe it! Run that tongue all over my pussy!" She cried. Her entire body was shaking, a drop of sweat rolled down her forehead from Ingun's efforts and over goosebumps on her flesh. Ingun smacked her lips, then gave her a few more licks to cool Karin's burning loins.  
  
"You're delicious. So I'm good?"   
  
"I've never had it so good. I can't believe you haven't done this before." Her neophyte tongue made up in passion what it lacked in experience, but it wasn't just that. Maybe it was her beauty, or even the hint of a real connection or the fact that she'd had to work so hard to get to this point, but Karin didn't care. She'd take being eaten out by Ingun over any three slags she'd ever fucked before.   
  
"Are you satisfied?" Karin shook her head.  
  
"Not while you haven't experienced my famous tongue techniques."  
  
"Do me then." She positioned herself between the alchemist's legs, relishing the feel of soft thighs against her cheeks, and inhaled the girl's musk. Her slit was moist and beautiful. She was just extending the tip of her tongue when Ingun pushed her head away. Karin bit back an angry response when she saw Ingun was actually smirking!   
  
"Wait. I've got a better idea, since you gave me the Lightning by mouth. I think you need a drink." She stood up and put a leg on the bed, lips teasing and Karin felt herself burn up at that look. Gently she pushed Karin down until she was underneath her taut body. Taking the bottle of wine, she took a sip, then let the alchohol dribble in a thin stream down between her magnificent breasts. The purple rivulet ran down her belly, over her pelvis, and finally down her sex as Karin greedily lapped there, determined to get every drop. It was brilliant she thought as she lost herself in a haze, enjoying the flavor of the vintage and Ingun's sweet honeypot at the same time.   
  
Ingun closed her eyes, biting her lip hard and trying not to spasm as Karin swirled her tongue, enjoying every lap as if it was on her own body. Ingun's clit was burning hot, it felt like it was melting on the tip of her tongue. She gave it a gentle bite and the alchemist screamed in pleasure, then arched her back, thrusting her thighs into Karin's face. The Lightning made Karin's tongue vibrate and tingle and she tried to pass this feeling on to Ingun, french kissing the folds and fluttering her tongue inside.  
  
She was reaching a whole new place with Ingun now, climbing a mountain of sexual fulfillment and she was almost at the top now. Karin teased herself with just her fingernail first, then her fingertips. She was quivering, her legs jelly even as she flicked her nub with one hand and caressed the alchemist's soft tits with the other. Ingun shuddered as if having a seizure, her honey coating the assassin's tongue and Karin knew she'd taken her to the pinnacle when she dropped the wine bottle and held onto Karin's head with both hands, urging her on. Karin paused from her licking and grinned up at the alchemist.  
  
"You're getting me all sticky."  
  
"I hope so. Do you want to rest?" She grinned as Ingun shook her head. She wouldn't have stopped no matter what the alchemist said, with the orgasm building now and Karin ready to burst.  
  
"Ah, Karin, finish me off. No more teasing, make me cum one more time!"  
  
"Just call me your personal love slave beautiful. I'll do this for you anytime." She grasped both of Ingun's buns, driving her tongue up as Ingun allowed herself to be pushed back onto the bed. Karin slipped underneath and gave her very best, flitting her tongue in and out at a rapid pace and giving Ingun the approximation of a hard tongue fucking. Now Ingun was really into it, bucking against Karin's mouth and taking her pleasure. Ingun continued to grind down on her energetically, the feeling of her slit on Karin's tongue rivaled any pleasure she'd ever been given. Ingun was so wet and slick that her inner folds had attained a softness, like spun sugar Karin thought, even more than Ingun's delicate tongue had. Her pink insides puckered and rubbed themselves over Karin's lips, trying to catch every inch of tongue as her hips pivoted. She corkscrewed her tongue as deep into the alchemist as she could before fluttering and withdrawing. Her mouth and chin were covered in Ingun's dew now, she inhaled the fragrance then took some and rubbed it on herself in complete bliss. Spreading herself wide Karin let her finger creep down between her thighs and pleasured herself, letting her other hand slide all over each of their bodies as she got herself off. They came together, Ingun holding her so close she couldn't breath and Karin flew to the stars as she masturbated in time.  
  
Ingun fell back, exhausted, and Karin joined her as they collapsed into bed together and caught their breath. Ingun kissed her once more, gently now, running her hands through Karin's black hair and looking into the icy blue eyes with a seriousness that made Karin want to melt into them. Her fingers glided over Karin's skin as if memorizing every cell, finding every small scar and the assassin guided her hands over her breasts, down her stomach, to her thighs but...she exhaled with supreme satisfaction. She was actually done, completely contented. Ingun nestled in the crook of her arm, roses still blooming in her cheeks.   
  
She'd had dozens upon dozens of women, in various levels of intoxication, forced and otherwise, and she had to say this was probably the best she'd had. Never mind what they could do as partners, the sex alone would be enough to make up for Maven stiffing her. She'd just take the money out of her daughters tasty body as often as possible. She could back mommy dear off with Ingun if she had to, and meanwhile, she'd know Karin was having her daughter, willingly. It was perfect. She had almost dozed off when Ingun spoke.  
  
"Tell me about being an assassin." Ingun asked, hazel eyes curious. Karin thought maybe after what they'd just done she'd say something lovey again, but it was good Ingun wasn't into alot of saccharine pillow talk either.  
  
"I've been an assassin ever since I got out of banditing. Someone always wants killing, there's never whatchacall a work shortage."  
  
"Are you the best?" She asked, and Karin grinned.  
  
"Good enough to kill a Jarl." She retorted with a bit of pride and ruffled the alchemists hair. She was usually the man in every relationship. "There's alot of assassins out there, but Lightning is my ace in the hole, it's my something special nobody else has. And I've got you now. So yeah Ingun, I think I could be the best." They passed the time basking in the afterglow as Karin shared with her a few of her exploits, and quirks of her career, Ingun asking the odd question in that way of hers.   
  
  
  
  
  
She was a freak with her knives, but she'd never be the best, there'd always be someone better. Probably a dozen someones....just not on Lightning. She'd heard whispers of other, more famous assassins, and she passed the stories onto Ingun who listened raptly. There was Shariah, who Ingun was especially interested in because she poisoned her targets in creative ways. Boxes of baby frost spiders, perfume that when inhaled caused lungs to seize up. Once she'd even slipped a guy some bath oil that when absorbed into the skin made the target have a heart attack and a brain embolism at the same time. Jorn the Arrow, who could make impossible shots from rooftops blocks away. Then there was her personal favorite, Festus Krex, who despite his age and hilarious name had balls the size of grand soul gems. Old Festus didn't fuck around, just walked up to his targets and magically blew them up in broad daylight.   
  
"You've got to admire that." Karin said, then sat up. She poured the last glass of wine, drank half, then offered the remainder to Ingun who shook her head. Karin walked back to the bed unsteadily. Her legs were rubbery, maybe she was just tired.  
  
"So how was the sex?" Ingun asked, watching Karin's gait. There was a smile at the corner of her lips, she knew Karin had enjoyed it.  
  
"I couldn't believe this was your first time with another woman girl! You put me away hot and wet like you knew what you were doing." Karin's hand was shaking a bit now. She'd really overexerted herself with all this. She wasn't just sated, she felt completely drained. "I can't feel my legs." Karin laughed.  
  
"Really?" She said, sounding pleased with herself. "Describe it for me."  
  
"I felt all tingly with you, then hot, like I was burning up. Now I just feel numb. This must be how guys feel when they blow their load. Can barely move."  
  
"Can you breath ok? Feel a tightness in your chest?"  
  
"Yeah." Karin said, disturbed. She looked at the wine glass, then Ingun. She tried to move after her as Ingun got up, but instead she fell back on the bed. She felt spent and stiff. Really, really stiff.  
  
"Finally. Well, you can rest for a few hours before we head out." Ingun said as she collected Karin's glass and gave her a warm smile. Karin didn't smile back though. Her eyes were wide, and she was shaking. She gagged, trying again to stand up, but it was like trying to do a situp with boulders piled onto her chest. Her fingers were hooking into rigid claws, and her mouth wouldn't move. Her whole face felt like molasses freezing. Inside she felt dozens of shooting daggers in her guts and Karin groaned, even the sound escaping her throat felt like an effort.  
  
"Sorry." Ingun said. "It's not supposed to hurt but I guess Lightning makes it worse. I think if you don't fight it, it won't be so bad."   
  
"Antidote." Karin managed to grunt, struggling with a wooden block of a tongue. Ingun frowned, confused.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You...drank...it...too. Antidote. Won't...kill." She barely managed, and Ingun nodded in understanding.  
  
"I see. Sorry Karin, there is no antidote. If there was, I couldn't give it to you anyway now could I? That'd be like cooking a dinner and then throwing the whole thing out!" She was smiling her old, detached smile from Elgrims. It wasn't full of cruel humor like Karin's, just enjoyment of her craft. This time she was the sacrificial bunny.  
  
"We...had...something." Karin huffed. She managed to jerk her arm behind her for balance, her joints moved like they were rusted.   
  
"We do. Alchemy." She shook the flask of Lightning, listening to the swish. "This stuff really is great, I'm sure I'll be able to duplicate this mixture perfectly the next time I sit down with it."  
  
Karin's vision was going dark around the sides, she had to turn her head to see Ingun and she could barely do it. How could Ingun be fine unless she'd taken an antidote? It would still be in her blood, she thought desperately, it had to be in the blood. If she killed her, if she drank enough then maybe, maybe...  
  
Karin's normally dextrous fingers were frozen sausages now, fumbling for her dagger. They found the handle and tried the old trick of flipping it into her hand but instead the blade flew from nerveless fingers and clattered to the floor. Ingun picked it up casually before slipping it into her own pocket and sitting down with that same smile.   
  
She was framed in the circle of Karin's vision, and she couldn't look away. Couldn't look away, couldn't even blink now at the beautiful face that watched her neutrally with that impersonal, not all there smile of hers. She sat on the end of the bed, like a loved one keeping death watch, and it wasn't satisfaction or regret in Ingun's face, what was that look? Interest. She watched Karin's wide, shocked eyes stare ahead, the mouth frozen in a silent scream of frustration, with all the attention and emotion of an alchemist observing the results of an interesting experiment.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_  
Long wait for this chapter eh? Finally got past some health problems, no free time at all this year and lots of trouble with this scene, it went through so many rewrites. The good news is I'm already mostly done with next chapter!  
  
So, thought I'd do an audience participation thing with anyone still reading. I've got a SFW poll here that I'll explain below, I'll keep it open till end of July or so, then I'll finish and post the last chapter based on feedback.  
  
_<https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FWRP2JN>_  
  
So before you take it, gather and I'll tell ye a tale. In the late 80's/early 90's, when HBO played stuff other than Game of Thrones, we had Tales from the Crypt. Most episodes ended with either the asshole protagonist getting ironically killed, or the asshole protagonist ironically killing an even bigger asshole antagonist. So that's basically the choice I'm giving you here, between two equally valid endings. Karin's getting comeupance, it's just a matter of how much, it'll be very interesting to see if people want the character to bite the bullet or not.  
  
Next chapter: Ingun poisoning someone, never saw that coming! I'd say Karin is, well, fucked! The last chapter, and you get to decide the ending! I'll let you know the poll results either way.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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	7. Karin Gets Mauled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Rape, Ultra-Violence

Chapter 7: Karin Gets Mauled  
_  
  
Well, I just want to walk right out of this world,  
'Cause everybody has a poison heart.- Ramones  
_  
  
"I know what you're thinking. It's written all over your face." The face Ingun was referring to was even now frozen in a look of horrified confusion. Karin's eyes were wide, her mouth and cheeks rigid marble and she hadn't blinked in better than two minutes.  
  
"Didn't she drink the same poisoned wine as me?" Ingun held up the wine glass in Karin's line of sight as she could no longer move her eyeballs at all. "It's a mix of swamp pod, ice wraith teeth and a few secret ingredients. When it dries it's completely transparent. Wine or any other liquid reactives it. By itself it would just give you a stomach ache, but with the canis in the wine it causes the paralysis reaction. I just had to make sure I didn't drink from your glass." Karin tried desperately again to move, to scream, but all that came out was a raspy breath that died away immediately. Ingun leaned closer and checked Karin's pupils, then put a finger to her cheek and pushed. Karin's face gave like putty, her expression unchanging. Ingun then softly blew on her eyes, and Karin remembered how her hot breath had felt on her skin, between her legs. She didn't even blink in response. Couldn't.  
  
"It seems your lungs still work. I was a little worried it might kill you." Another sad, barely audible sound passed Karin's lips. "Oh you'll live, you just won't be moving for a few hours. You're relieved, I can tell." She poked Karin in the chest, eliciting the barest puff of air from the assassin. "I wonder if you could still have a sexual response like this?" Curious, her finger traced a delicate line down Karin's stomach, then slipped to her clit and pressed softly. Karin felt it and tried to squirm but her whole body was stone.   
  
"It would have been easier to just poison the wine, but I knew you'd be suspicious . Also, had to be sure of the dose. Too much and all your organs would lock up. I thought I'd better do it this way since you're the type to drink straight from the bottle...and other places." Ingun's skin was still glowing from their screw session, but her voice was clinical. "It took alot longer to take than I'd thought, but I'm glad to see it works just as well on people." Karin said nothing, not that she could have.   
  
"You thought I'd leave Riften with my mother's rapist, a blood crazy maniac like you? You must really be mad. What were you thinking?" She only sounded mildly curious. Karin struggled to speak, only a faint croak came from the back of her throat. Ingun nodded to herself.   
  
"You're right. I should have used more canis, but I was afraid it would overpower the wine's taste. Anyway, Maul had seen I'd packed, so mother tried to stop me. I wasn't really listening, I really was thinking of going with you. Can you believe it? So she told me. Everything." She opened Karin's flask of Lightning and took a fair sized swig.   
  
"I really love this, thanks for teaching me how to make it. I've never experienced anything like it. The sex wasn't bad either, but I have to be honest. I still kind of prefer men." She said all this matter of factly, without gloating. If her muscles weren't all seized up, Karin would have throttled her, as it was Ingun licked her lips and pocketed the Lightning. She could have just raped the alchemist and been as rough as she wanted, that's what burned her the most. She would have been free and clear, but instead she'd tried being nice and this is what it got her. Her feelings played with and more importantly she was at another psychopath's mercy now. Ingun opened Karin's pack and began tossing it.   
  
"And here's mother's necklace, she'll be glad to have that back." She pulled the orc blade next, running her fingers gingerly over it's edges and barbs.  
  
"What a nasty looking thing. It really suits you. Is this the knife you used on my mother? Were you going to use it on me?" She traced the tip down between Karin's breasts. She tried again to shrink away but her body refused to move. The knife left a red line down her flesh, but Ingun didn't press hard enough to cut. Karin would have sighed in relief if she was able.  
  
"Don't move." Ingun said to the prone Karin, who couldn't even mutter a curse. She winked at the assassin; she was getting looser from the Lighting. Ingun fiddled with the wall until she found the secret catch, causing it to slide away to reveal dark night, then walked out, leaving Karin straining to see. It was no good, she couldn't even shift her gaze, trying just made her eyes ache and her vision blur. A cold breeze bit her naked skin, causing goosebunps and her nipples to perk up, but Karin couldn't shiver, only lay stiff as a board. She felt tears well behind her agonized eyes at the thought of what she'd have to do to Ingun for this when and if this shit ever wore off. She wouldn't fuck her again, no, she'd just spread the alchemist's guts out on the grass from here to the next hold. After an endless minute, Ingun reappeared with Maul in tow. His eyes appraised Karin's nude form apathetically before he covered Ingun with her cloak against the night chill.   
  
"I took care of the old man. Did she hurt you?"  
  
"Not at all. We just shared some wine. I told you my way was cleaner."  
  
"I could have taken her. Where's your clothes? What happened?"  
  
"Well we shared a little more than wine." His brow furrowed but Ingun's detached smile never faltered. "There, on the nightstand." He was all business as his gaze swept the rest of the room.  
  
"Where's her blades?"   
  
"The belt there. I'd like to keep this one as a memento." Maul grunted impatiently.   
  
"How long is she going to be like that?"  
  
"Two hours at least."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Hmmm?" Ingun's lazy smile was spreading across her face, and she was humming under her breath as the Lightning worked it's way through.  
  
"Ingun this is important. She's crazy as a shithouse skeever and she's dangerous."  
  
"I've seen it last four on rabbits. I gave her the right dose for her weight. If you're that worried, kill her."   
  
"You know Maven wants her alive, she was very specific" He looked directly in Karin's eyes, with a kind of scornful pity. "She has plans for you. I'll get the rope."  
  
"Wait." Ingun put a hand on his wrist. Her face had more color now, and her distant smile was widening, turning into something Karin found oddly familiar. "You don't need to tie her up just yet. We have awhile."  
  
"What are you talking about?  
  
"Look at her, she's completely helpless. I...we...could do anything we wanted to her before we took her back to mother."  
  
"Why and what in the world would we do to her that Maven isn't going to do?"  
  
"I think you know." She slid sensuously behind him, her expression had become playful, imp-like, and it seemed to surprise Maul as much as Karin. "Look at her there. Naked, splayed out, pliant." She whispered in Maul's ear, loud enough for Karin to hear, all the while looking at her. Her previous disinterest had been replaced with a leer. "She's all wet inside and oh so sweet. I never knew before, but eating another woman is just like taking a bite out of a luscious, juicy fruit. We licked eachother all over before you came in. Bringing eachother to orgasm.'' Under the Lightning's influence Ingun's eyes were alight and her voice had started to take on a perverted, manic lilt that the assassin recognized. The calm, detached alchemist was gone, now she sounded a bit like Karin's twin sister  
  
"She's still all flushed and sweaty from me putting my tongue insider her and swirling it about." Now Maul was looking at Karin with consideration. He was practically shaking, his face flushed beet red. Ingun blew on his ear and the big man shivered. "She wants a good fucking. All while we were doing eachother I was missing a nice hard cock. Could you help me with that? I know you've wanted me."  
  
"Ingun." Abruptly he pushed her away to arms length, but Ingun just kept smiling. "This isn't you. It's whatever this drug she has you on talking. Not to mention your mother would kill me. Let's pack this psycho up and then you can sleep this stuff off and we'll talk tomorrow.  
  
"Is that really what you want or are you just trying to be a gentleman? You didn't take a good look before." She let the cloak whisper to the floor and Maul immediately looked away from her flaunted body, the just-right breasts standing in offering before him. She reached for Maul's codpiece and he jumped back as if Ingun was a cobra. She stamped her foot like a spoiled child, her color up, and then turned her leer on the assassin. "Fine, then do Karin. I'll watch."  
  
"That's just not-" Ingun's perverted grin just stretched ear to ear as he sputtered. "I don't want her."  
  
"Why not? She's not bad. She has nice, perky, tasty little tits and a tight toned body." He shook his head and gave Karin a contemptuous look.  
  
"It's not that. I'm not into rape. What's wrong with you?"  
  
"She raped my mother and who knows how many women, she deserves it." He shook his head again.   
  
"Ingun stop. Your mother."  
  
"I won't tell her if you don't. Or maybe I will. Knowing mother, she might even like to hear that kind of story." Maul looked unbelieving at his boss's daughter.  
  
"Just shut up, please. We need to get back to Riften. To your mother and-" She pulled him close and this time he didn't resist as she kissed him. His shaking stopped, and in a moment he grasped her and kissed her back so strongly Ingun had to put a hand on the nightstand to keep her balance. Ingun's hands moved all over Maven's man, caressing each patch of newly revealed flesh as she stripped him bare, until he stood naked. Ingun pressed against him in all her glory, her breasts against his chest and her thighs and hot sex on his leg as they kissed. He grasped a handful of perfect bun, squeezing and moved against her, he was already hard, but she pushed him back.  
  
"Wait." He stopped, and Ingun stared directly into Karin's eyes. "Do her first. Then me. It'll get me hot for you. Please Maul, you've always been so nice to me and you've never looked better than you do right now." She led him to the prone assassin, and Karin couldn't look away as his shadow loomed over her. His hulking, muscled body was hairy and heaving, he was breathing hard as Ingun rubbed against him, stroking him and urging him towards Karin's entrance. The bearded mouth seemed reluctant and Karin would have been insulted if she wasn't terrified of the engorged, red member standing straight at attention. It hovered between her thighs, wanting to plunge into her, and Ingun grinned evilly at the assassin.  
  
"I know what will help." She lay across Karin belly in a sixty-nine position, her delectable bottom in Karin's face but she wasn't in a position to enjoy it this time. "Give me your hard one."   
  
"Ingun..."  
  
She heard the smacking of Ingun's lips on Maul's staff, the bed shook softly from the motion as she sucked him off, each time Ingun's ass backed up a little into Karin's face. The sucking stopped and now Ingun's delicate tongue washed over her clit and ran between her cleft. Karin cried out in silence as she felt the alchemist's fingers peel her folds back. The alchemist's smile was inviting as she spread Karin's pink passage open for Maul. She gave Karin's another playful lick and the assassin tried to buck her off desperately, as much from fear as pleasure, she could feel everything and she'd die before she let this giant bastard fuck-oh shit!  
  
If Karin's eyes could have gone wider, they would have when Maul penetrated her. The fear gave way to intense pain as his head squeezed it's way into her tender canal. She couldn't tell if it was his size or because she'd barely ever taken a man and she couldn't move to ease the discomfort. His shaft filled her, pushed deeper, violating her. Her insides felt bruised from their inability to accommodate the stiff member. A scream lay frozen in her lungs, it hurt immensely, making her feel so tight and full inside she couldn't breathe, she wanted to burst. He stopped about halfway into Karin, closed his eyes and grunted. He withdrew, and Karin swore her aching pussy breathed in relief.  
  
"What's wrong?"   
  
"She's too tight!"   
  
"Guess she's only a slut with other women, I know what'll get you two off." Ingun extended her tongue, running it down the length of Karin's slit even as she spread languidly over the assassin. Now her pussy was rubbing against Karin's mouth, her first urge was to bite, but all she could do was let Ingun slide over her still lips. She felt herself grow moist and her own nipples harden and she wanted to thrash, angry at her body for rebelling against her when she knew what was coming. "Try her now." Ingun urged, and positioned her own tongue below.   
  
Maul's length ran across the tip of Ingun's tongue, slickly entering Karin this time. He was thick and hard from Ingun's crooning encouragement and Karin could only take it as deep as he wanted to give it, nakedly defenseless. This time he slid further down her depths and Karin tried uselessly to brace herself, to suck in air, anything. He withdrew, leaving aching emptiness and relief until he pushed in again, faster with each stroke, the friction was unbearable, burning her up. She felt the tip of his cock hit her cervix and there was agonizing pain mixed with pleasure as Ingun kept licking the both of them. As he filled her, he pushed against her walls and her canal widened to take all his girth.  
  
"How does she feel now? Does it feel as good as it tastes?" Ingun asked, rubbing herself down into Karin's face until the assassin could barely breathe. She was hurting and humiliated, it was only because it was that bitch Ingun talking dirty and her scent in her nose that her body was reacting like this! It was more Ingun's urging than anything Maul was doing, but Karin grew wetter and the thrusting became quicker and more fluid, his rod hammering her.   
  
"So tight. She has a hard, hot little body! Ugh, Ingun, I want you now!"   
  
"Finish her off first, and then you can give it to me." She whispered, sliding her tongue side to side above Karin's slit like a snake. That was all the encouragement Maul needed, and now he pumped Karin's pussy hard, his hairy balls slamming against her, trying to reach climax. Karin wanted to squeeze her legs shut, at least bunch up the covers in her hands and hold on for dear life but couldn't lift a finger. Not being able to react or defend herself at all was worse than the assault. Maul pounded her to her core, the tip of his cock kissing her insides, leaving her breathless with each punishing stroke. He hammered her relentlessly until she felt Maul tense up, his member quivering inside her, and she knew what was coming.  
  
"I'm going to cum!"  
  
"Go ahead and cum inside her. Nobody'll care." Ingun urged, grinning back at Karin.   
  
She felt something she hoped she wouldn't feel again. He seized, and she felt a small earthquake inside as his cock trembled, her body involuntarily helping as it squeezed then a hot splash that filled her up inside. He shuddered and thrust deeply once last time, dribbling his seed out into Karin. He withdrew, leaving the assassin awash in the sticky substance, but Ingun wasn't done. He moaned as Ingun fondled his balls and licked between them and then another hot wet line shot from Karin's stomach all the way to her cheek. Thick ropes of cream covered her chest, stuck in Karin's hair and splashed across her to dry on her wooden face. Ingun draped herself over top of the frozen woman, even though Karin was completely stiff she could still every inch of Ingun's warm, soft skin and her lips when she pressed them to Karin's slack ones. Her tits flattened against the assassin's chest as she put her weight on her and positioned herself above Karin's dripping hole. It would have looked irresistable to her, there was no way Maul wasn't going for it.  
  
"Give it to me now! I want to feel your hot one pound me bareback!" The alchemist crooned. Maul obliged her, and Karin felt Ingun's body seize up and her estatic squeal as the big man penetrated her. He grasped both her hips and fucked her hard from behind, their movement making the bed shake. Ingun rocked back with it, her face flushed and wanton above Karin's. She kissed the assassin deeply, the shockwave of each thrust passing between them. Karin could taste both herself and Maul on Ingun's lips.   
  
Karin knew she knew she should feel completely broken and detached now, that she should retreat into her own mind at this point but the only thing she could still feel was red hot rage. They were going to cut her to pieces when they finished humiliating her, but she held onto the anger like a piece of drift wood in a roiling ocean and tried again to break free. Ingun was in ecstasy sandwiched between their two bodies, Maul filling her from behind and Karin's soft flesh beneath, all while riding a Lightning high. Was it good Ingun? She focused all her hate on Ingun's closed eyes, on the beautiful face pushing up against her each time Maul jammed it inside the alchemist, and tried to bite down on the girl's lips savagely. Nothing. Nothing at all.   
  
Instead Ingun moaned and nuzzled Karin's neck as her fingers stole down to the assassins's slit, fingering in time with Maul's thrusts as they reached a crescendo. The whole room was shaking now, Ingun rubbing against her with each slap and her index finger fucking her furiously as she lost all control. She felt Ingun's orgasm through her skin to skin contact, felt Maul pulse and then cum drizzling Ingun's back like hot rain. Ingun collapsed against Karin, sated, and Mauled leaned in, caressing and kissing Ingun, worshiping the alchemist's smooth neck and shoulders. Their lips met in a threeway kiss that included Karin's unyielding tips, Maul's beard scratching her in the process. The couple looked contented, Maul having finally achieving an enlightened look that didn't suggest someone had pissed in his hat.   
  
  
  
Karin lay underneath them boiling hot, sticky and exhausted from being used. She'd be panting if she could move. Her insides were still quivering in the wake of the unwilling orgasm from her violation. Ingun straddled her and Maul straddled Ingun. They lingered in the afterglow, cooing tender, unintelligible words in eachother's ear. They sighed, kissing softly over her. Like true lovers, ignoring her. She was nothing but a prop for them, furniture for them to fuck on and discard. Humiliation and fear of what would happen to her when they took her back to Riften washed over her moment to moment in flood tides. After an eternity, they got back off her. Ingun wasn't considerate enough to not put an elbow in her stomach, and Karin inhaled painfully. Wait!  
  
With difficulty, Karin found she was able to breathe through her nose. Her eyelids were still unbearably heavy, but straining hard, she was able to blink once, then twice. With a heavy push, her eyes rolled over to see Maul and Ingun were dressing, ignoring her, and Karin focused all her willpower. With the kind of effort she'd exerted climbing Riften's battlements and a silent inner scream, Karin pushed hard. Her pinkie twitched. She stealthily sucked in more breath and tried again. The fingers on her right hand curled this time. Maul had pulled his shirt over his head and he spared a glance back at the assassin and Karin played statue, stiff as a board. Now she wanted to do nothing but blink, the two or three she'd stolen while their backs were turned had felt better than sex but she couldn't let them know that the poison was wearing off. They weren't in a hurry, and with each second Karin felt herself gain more control.   
  
"Do you need any help with her?" Ingun asked. They were almost finished dressing.  
  
"I'm fine, you really don't want to know where she's going. Go straight back to Riften and go to sleep, I'll tie up the killer here and get her where she needs to be. Here, don't forget to take her pack with you." Karin watched her knives disappear into the pack, along with the Lightning and all the money and jewelry she'd worked so hard to scrape together. Karin's heart sank even further to the bottom of the ocean, the only thought that kept her afloat was how she'd get most of it back over the alchemist's dead body.   
  
"You were wonderful." She kissed Maul again, sly eyes smiling at Karin. For her part, the assassin just stared at the ceiling dumbly, watching them out of her peripheal vision.   
  
"Don't tell your mother about us."  
  
"My lips are sealed." She walked back to Karin, who braced herself. This close she was worried Ingun would see her twitch. The urge to make her move, to grab Ingun and try and snap her neck was overpowering. Ingun gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Goodbye Karin." She said it as if talking to her one of her rabbits. As she left, Karin allowed herself the luxury of a murderous glare at the girl's back. After she was gone, Maul produced a length of rope. His face was set as he advanced.  
  
"Just relax. You and I are just going on a little ride to see Maven." He jerked Karin's arms roughly behind her and tried to slip her hands through the loop. With a yell the assassin pulled hard, striking Maul's broad face right in the mouth with her elbow. If she'd been at full strength, if she hadn't been sluggish and half paralyzed it might have broken teeth. Instead, all it did was give him a fat lip. She jumped back from his swing, legs exploding. Under better conditions it should have carried her clear of the bed, but her body still felt all out of joint. As it was she fell back, smacking herself on the headboard. With a yelp she was on her feet again, scrambling back like an insect. All at once, she was out of room, her back to the wall.   
  
His eyes were angry as he came forward, breathing like a bull and Karin raised her fists defensively. She was getting ready to hook around him but he stopped a few feet from her, rubbing his sore mouth. His expression cooled, and she tensed, ready for him to come at her. She made a fake lunge, and he jerked his body in that direction, but didn't take the bait. He was watching Karin carefully, eyes flat, brow serious as he unsheathed his dagger. Karin's blades were long gone with Ingun by now. He had the only real weapon in the shack in his hand and she had nowhere to go. He had all night if he wanted. Her lips pulled back from her teeth and she uttered a shaky chuckle that was nothing like her normal laugh.  
  
"With a name like Maul, I thought you'd use a hammer."  
  
"Just don't move. I thought you drank Ingun's poison, how are you still up?" Karin shrugged.  
  
"Maybe the Lightning helped burn it out of my system. Maybe it's all the shit I put in my body over the years. Or all the pussy I eat. Like your girlfriend Ingun's." Maul's face hardened further.   
  
"Shut your dirty mouth about her." From here Karin could see the dagger point. His hand was steady as death. She backed up further against the wall, ready to spring off.   
  
"So you were in on it from the start huh? Maven tells you she wants to fuck me over and you act like you were doing me a favor getting me this job. Just a bunch of fucking liars. You should have all been in a theater troop." She shifted her balance, and his blade followed Karin, never losing it's target.   
  
"You brought it all on yourself. You should have just taken the money and run. It wasn't personal. Neither is this."  
  
"C'mon, after the intimate moment we shared? That meant something. I'm starting to think I had men all wrong. I think I'm falling for you."  
  
"You don't want to piss me off." He picked up the rope and tossed it at her feet. "Loop it around your feet and arms and I won't have to bloody you." Karin looked up at the rope blankly, like she'd never seen such a thing. She knew right away she'd never touch it.   
  
"You can say I got away. Nobody'd know. I'll give you half of every septim I make from now till the day I die, I swear to Maphala and Akatosh and whoever else you want." She may as well have been singing nursery rhymes for all the reaction she got out of him. "I'll give you one more fuck before I go?" She added, desperate, and he snorted derisively. " I do alot better when I can move."   
  
"Sorry. " He didn't sound like it. He tried to trick her into bolting by taking two deliberate steps, but she wouldn't move till the last moment and he stopped. "Last chance. Use that rope."  
  
"I'm not picking up that rope and I'm not going anywhere with you. You set me up, you owe me something. So let me go and I'll return the favor. Don't make me kill the hell out of you Maul." She thought he would laugh at that, she was nude and weaponless, but instead he grew thoughtful, and that look scared her more than his blade.   
  
"Alright, I'll do you a favor. Hold still and I'll make it quick. One stab, through the heart. Ten seconds of pain and then it'll be over. It'll be better than what Maven has in mind for you."  
  
"Shove your favor right up your ass Maul."   
  
"My orders were to bring you alive, so you should think about it. You think you're crazy now? Maven's got torture planned you can't imagine. After that it's a slow removal of your tongue and amputation of all your limbs. She's going to make you into a kind of human backpack. Then she'll sell you off as a fucktoy to some dirty orcs. I'd take the easy way out, I really would." Looking into his eyes, Karin knew he was telling the truth. This was the last opportunity she'd have for a quick, relatively painless way out. She was still drugged, moving like you did in bad dreams, and she could tell he knew his way around a knife. He hulked over her, seemingly impassable. She wouldn't get the drop on him again, he was going to beat her down. Karin wanted to just lay down and give up. Instead, her grin split her face as she came back to herself.  
  
"I guess Maven would know from fucktoys, what with being one." Maul just shook his head.  
  
"I tried to make it easy for you." He looked grim and she thought she could even see some regret, determined to get his unpleasant task over with. Her reactions were way down, the only advantages she had were his weapon's short reach and her own familiarity with it, she might be able to anticipate his moves. That also meant he could anticipate hers. Course, she didn't have even a butter knife to her name, so it was a moot fucking point. If she was lucky, he was the type who would depend too much on the knife. He was huge, if she got in his grip she was finished.  
  
He came at her then, fast and silent despite his size, and Karin put everything she had into one unthinking movement, body moving on instinct. The blade missed her neck, and instead opened up her shoulder, cutting deeper than she could ever remember getting slashed in her long career. Despite the agonizing pain she crouched into a roll, as she hit the floor her arm felt like it wanted to come off. She almost passed out, but instead she jigged around to the side, trying to keep the room from spinning. Seering fire an inch deep into her back told her Maul had got the tip of his dagger into her.   
  
She saw the low wooden table and leaped clear over it, putting it between her and Maul. Her adrenaline was up now, fighting with the poison Ingun had slipped her, but she wasn't moving anywhere near normal speed. With a screech she flipped the table at Maul. It wasn't heavy, but it was big. It span in it's upward arc towards his face before splintering with a crunch on his big shoulder. A lantern on the table went flying and clattered by the bed. The bed spread began to smolder, then caught fire. Karin didn't see this, she was was already starting towards the door. With a hoarse shout Maul threw the table aside and stepped between her and freedom. Her foot bumped against something hard yet brittle and Karin picked it up without looking at it. It was the bottle of wine Ingun had shared with her. She smashed the base of it against the wall and it shattered, leaving a jagged ring of sharp glass in her hand.  
  
His eyes were on the broken bottle as he inched towards her, patient, cautious. The way he waved that knife he knew the range and angles she could come at him. She was hurt and worn down, but he wasn't going to get close if she could tag him. He looked like he was expecting her to make a dive at or around him, she had to stay out of that lethal zone somehow. There was a crackle and glow behind Maul. The bed had gone up like kindling, filling the shack with smoke. Sparks were falling on the wood floor, and the fire behind Maul made him look like a daedra come to claim her soul. He didn't turn to look at the pyre, he only had eyes for the assassin.  
  
"Give me the bottle Karin. You're done."  
  
"Sure, I'll give it to ya. Where you want it?" He answered with a killing thrust, and she moved her left arm into it's path, the dagger going clean through. The pain was excruciating, but before she could fully appreciate the damage she'd brought the bottle up underneath and into his side. He was armored, so it was the only place she could get him. The glass punctured Maul with a wet sucking sound, and she jabbed it in harder and twisted, grinding the edges into his stomach. He groaned and reached around, grabbing a firm hold on her. Fuck, his grip was like a bear's!   
  
The dagger was stuck in Karin's forearm, the movement tore the opening in her muscle even wider and she screamed. She was being cut and crushed at the same time, and in animal desperation she did the only thing she could. She opened her mouth wide and bit into Maul's cheek, tearing a palm sized chunk out with her teeth. Now he screamed and let her go, his hand clutching the wound, blood gushing between his fingers. She went again for the door and a palm like a rock smashed into her face, sending her flying to the floor. She choked down blood, her's and Maul's, her whole face was glowing with pain.   
  
Karin's head swam from the smoke. Her skin was red hot the way you felt sitting too close to a fire. Which was no surprise, half of the shack was ablaze now. Her vision came back into focus and she looked to see Maul glaring down at her with hate. The inferno matched his blazing eyes, she'd finally made him angry.   
  
He slashed at her and she scuttled back, the edge parting the flesh on her palm as she tried to protect herself. She tried to find her feet but he kicked her, the heavy boot catching her in the hip, and Karin felt something else threaten to break as she went down again. Another kick caught her in the side of the head. Her vision was fading out, she didn't know where she was anymore. He was slashing madly at her, her left arm was fucked, and the right arm she was crawling on was agony. With nowhere else to go she crawled back towards the fire, as if looking for a place to die.   
  
The roof was catching now. Karin couldn't breath, couldn't see anything but the dagger and fire all around. The rafters cracked under the weight, and cinders stung Karin as they floated down, burning in her hair. The floor behind her was a sheet of fire, there was nowhere left to run. Maul lunged at her, and Karin shifted, feeling the dagger move her guts around, just missing her lungs. With all she had left she pulled the man down and threw her body to the side, rolling them both into the blaze. She didn't even have breath to laugh as she felt skin searing off her. They writhed together, still fighting as they cooked as if in an oven.  
  
Karin would have told people it was her plan all along, but in the heat of the moment so to speak, it was dumb luck. Maul happened to be on top of her when a piece of roofing bigger than his thick forearm fell, clouting him in the head. He blinked, stunned, and that's when Karin reared back and put both feet on the steel cuirass covering his chest. It was becoming white hot, like pressing her soles to a skillet, but that was nothing compared to the pain she was already feeling on her pale exposed skin. She pushed with both legs and all her might. He fell back into the inferno and immediately Karin could hear the sizzle of flesh cooking. His hair and beard both caught on fire as he went rolling into a corner so bright with flame Karin couldn't even make anything out except thrashing, burning limbs. He screamed and ran about, a human fireball, and in his blind flailing he tripped over something and tumbled over some debris. His kicking legs and the flame danced and swayed, indistinguishable.  
  
She weakly pulled herself away, chuckling and spitting up blood. It all hurt so bad, at least some of her many wounds had been cauterized now. Parts of her back burned in agony, elsewhere she couldn't feel a thing, and that wasn't good. The fire was still spreading, she saw Maul's metal cuirass flaring green in all that orange. No screaming, no movement. Only grim determination let her make her feet and stumble out of the shack. It was thirty steps to put herself out of danger, but it felt like thirty miles.   
  
The shack was collapsing on itself, the pyre lighting up the sky. It would be easy to see on a night like this. The barbecue inside that was Maul still had the only dagger for miles and the clothes had gone up with the bed. She was battered and drenched in gore. Felt like she was bleeding from a thousand places. She touched her her eye socket where it throbbed and almost threw up from the pain. She reached the lake and fell to her knees, her body slick with blood and bubbling burns from where the fire had licked her flesh. She cupped her hands and drank the cold water, then splashed some on her burns and instantly regretted it.   
  
The wind was picking up, causing her teeth to chatter. How could she feel so cold after being so hot? She clasped her arms around herself for the pathetic warmth they offered. Behind her, the fire roared like a beacon, drawing wild animals and men who'd happily kill her for a septim. She had nothing left now. No money, no Lightning. Not even the energy to stand. Even the rags the farmer had given her to wear were ashes now.   
  
"Damn." It came out in a shuddering whisper, the voice was like a stranger's to Karin's ears. "I...I really liked that dress too." She began to chuckle alone in the dark. Naked and freezing it soon became a sob. Somewhere she heard horses and men shouting, and the sob broke into hysterical laughter. She looked up into the sky and saw the barest sliver of moon, almost invisible, like a tiny, white wolf's grin. The voices grew louder, and Karin just laughed and laughed.  
  
  
  
Postscript:  
  
A year passed in Riften, and things ran as always, if a bit more efficiently. Some token guards were fired over Laila's death and Karin's escape, but otherwise it was once again dirty double dealings behind an official veneer of respectability. People talked in hushed tones of Laila Law-Giver, how an insane murderer like Karin had been free to walk among them for a week, and hadn't they just been lucky she hadn't hurt anyone else? Well, aside from Indaryn the overseer, who couldn't walk anymore, and Ungrien the barman who had to find other employment with his mashed in nose. Haelga would get uncharacteristically quiet around this kind of gossip, and both Black-Briar women's faces would harden for a moment before agreeing.   
  
Maven had ascended as Jarl and Laila's sons had been pushed out. They'd both left Riften under mysterious circumstances, to grieve some said, but otherwise it was all very quiet and painless. Maven's dead thugs, the butchered sod Karin left alive and even Maul were swept quietly under the rug. Riften under Maven was Riften as it had always been after all, and in a few months the whole scandal was old news.  
  
It had taken time, but things were good now. Hemming would succeed her as Jarl, perhaps some twenty years down the road when he'd finally matured. Ingun had become wildly unpredictable after the Laila debacle, obsessed with brewing and consuming her Lightning until she resembled no one so much as Karin. She was detoxifying in a sanitarium now, slowly recovering from her addiction. Meanwhile Maven had found a lucrative market for the drug among the very rich, so it wasn't a total loss. It was mixed in parts under strict guard so that no one had the complete recipe.  
  
Maven sighed, exhausted from the day somehow as she examined herself in the mirror. There was less time now but she still had her gentlemen callers. The scars had all been healed at great expense, there was barely any blemish on her skin to indicate she'd ever been attacked and...violated the way she had. A whisper of makeup hid them completely, but the same bald anger burned in her when her fingertips touched them. Only she, Ingun, and one other knew about them.   
  
She decided visiting Karin might perk her up, so she unlocked the small closet she kept her in. The skull with the ratty black hair grinned mindlessly from it's pedestal inside. The stink had been the worst as it rotted, Maven had tried incense at first but that only covered the smell. Then she'd procured some of the acrid herbs they used in the hall of the dead and that helped. She guessed she could have sealed it in glass or something, but it was soothing to have it out where she could hold it if she wanted. Maven had countless enemies but only Karin had gotten to her, debased her like that. She'd taken away her dignity and Maul, even tried to steal away her only daughter. Look at you now she thought. Though it was morbid she had to admit to a certain satisfaction watching the bitch's face slowly slough off to reveal the white bone beneath. It helped her sleep, and she was uncharacteristically tired tonight. After ten minutes of telling the skull about her day and a few playful insults she was able to sleep like a baby.   
  
  
  
Late into the night Maven had a nightmare that she was drowning and as her eyes opened she caught a glimpse of a heavy shadow looming over her. Her nose was pinched shut and there was a strong hand pressed over her mouth. Her mind could barely process that her arms and legs were stretched and pinned to the corners of the bed as she struggled for breath and thrashed violently. Abruptly the hand retreated and Maven gasped a great lungful of air, preparing to scream when she felt a bottle pressed into her mouth and was forcefed the sickenly sweet liquid inside it. She choked on it, almost vomiting before a gag was roughly tied around her mouth. As the tears cleared she could make out a heavily tanned woman with dirty blond hair chopped short. She'd never seen her before but the crazy blue eyes were unmistakable.  
  
"Well I've got to say, you still look good since we met last your Jarlship. Does your pussy still work?" Maven's blood froze in her veins at the familiar, lilting, half mad voice. That was impossible!   
  
"There, just something for you to relax. " Karin held the knife up for Maven's viewing pleasure, and began to cut Maven's nightgown. It was razor sharp, and the gown parted with a whisper, the mountains of Maven's breasts rising into the open air. Karin squeezed one in her hand, jiggling the mound in her palm.  
  
"Now that's really beautiful. This room, those nice tits of yours, they bring back some memories. Don't worry, you'll start to feel really good momentarily, and then we'll make the Daedra weep." Maven's muffled cry sounded like someone chewing on a towel, but Karin seemed to understand.   
  
"Dead? Nope. I mean, I'm right here, aren't I? How could I be dead if I'm here you dizzy bitch?" She pinched a nipple and Maven groaned. "Gotta admit, you made things tough on me for awhile. Stiffing me, sending that goon of yours to plow me, then filling Ingun's head with lies. Then that bounty. Ten thousand septim." She whistled softly. "If you'd just paid me my five you wouldn't be in this mess." Maven closed her eyes and shook her head savagely, screaming into her gag. It was a nightmare, this was just a nightmare! The sound was muffled, not loud enough to stir anybody else from their beds.  
  
"How'd I con you? Glad you asked. I found a sad sack willing to turn in the bounty on me without doing the work. Easy money right? That Reach bitch only looked a little like me, but after a few days out in the rain and my bandana on it I guess that head could have passed for anyone. I really hate this color by the way. Be good to be back in black again after this." She ran a hand through the chopped blond hair, then lay on the pillow next to Maven. She stroked the older woman's cheek lovingly, and Maven screamed into the gag again.  
  
"Ah memories. Face it, you screwed up Maven. You wanted that head to be mine so bad it blinded you. Slipping you that sleep draught was child's play. Shouldn't have dropped your guard. Speaking of guards, keeping the same idiots on I snuck past the first time around? What a dumb fuck! Guess you're not as smart as you thought." She smiled patiently at Maven as if expecting her to answer, all Maven could do was glare at her.   
  
"Well, enough of all that sad talk. I found someone else who wanted Riften's Jarl snuffed, that took me all of two seconds. Let's face it, nobody likes you. You and I had history, so I was the obvious choice. Try not to dwell on that too much." Maven's pupils dilated, and her eyes took on a semi glassy look. It had gotten cold in the room, freezing almost, but she could feel the hot rush of her blood coursing inside.  
  
"I guess I'm like you Maven. I just like to hear myself talk. Starting to feel that now? That's real Lightning, not that Thunder shit you and Ingun have been pushing. Did you water it down because you're cheap, or is Ingun boiling it too long? I tried it once, barely better than a Skooma buzz. Now this though. Turns your body into a bundle of nerves." Even though Karin's voice seemed to be booming and echoing around the room, nobody came, and Maven couldn't understand why. The dark room had taken on a thousand shades of twilight, Maven had never known there were so many beautiful hues of black and blue and purple in the world and even colors she dared not name. She couldn't help but turn her head this way and that and admire this room that she'd spent all year in but never really seen up till now. Even Karin looked ethereal and mysterious in the moonlight. It wasn't like being drunk, her head felt light as a feather, not foggy. She was hyper-aware, hyper-alert, she knew she was going to die if someone didn't come soon but a strange euphoria hung over everything, it seemed to make it not matter.  
  
"Not paying attention? That's so rude. I'm going to have to punish you now." Karin grinned and pinched Maven hard on her side underneath her arm. In her state Karin's fingers felt like a metal clamp crushing her flesh and Maven screamed again into the gag. Karin's nails hadn't broken skin but they felt like razor sharp spikes piercing her, and as the pain faded, she felt fantastically good. Strangely, she half wanted Karin to pinch her again.  
  
"I forgive you though. See?" The fingers rubbed the red spot now softly and immediately Maven felt the soothing cool smoothness of Karin's fingertips. It raised goosebumps, why did it feel so good? Karin bent down and gave the spot a small kiss and then a lick and Maven shuddered despite herself. Maven's nipples were now erect as hard little stones and Karin took one between her fingers and pinched more gently. This time Maven was wracked with pleasure and she gasped. Karin's grin approved. "It makes your whole body feel like a clitoris. And it makes your clitoris feel like..."  
  
She flicked Maven's clit and she let out another muffled cry, trying to shift away but she was tied fast. She orgasmed, and when Karin's fingers began tracing a soft, slow circle around her nub and then pinched again it was like a chain reaction. She gushed, feeling her quim flow over her, wet on her ass and soaking the bedspread. The Lightning was coming on stronger, increasing the pleasure from Karin's nimble fingers many times as she diddled her. Karin tweaked the two big nipples and Maven arched her back, her cry rising with her body.  
  
"I'm looking forward to seeing Ingun again. I know she didn't really mean those things she said, that was just some kinda parental obligation she had to you. I forgive her for getting all turned around on me. Well, there won't be anybody getting in our way this time." Karin's finger dipped inside of Maven and explored. She bit one of the pink nipples, nibbling on it without breaking the skin and Maven pulled away, then then thrust her hips in time with Karin's fingers. She was moaning through the gag and Karin smiled languidly. She patted the barbed dagger at her hip.  
  
"Ingun can wait till morning though. Don't worry, you'll be getting my full attention my dear Maven. We've got all night."  
  
  
_  
Author's notes:  
As promised, here's the final vote count from the survey.   
  
-17 voted for Karin to live.  
-3 voted for Karin to die.  
-9 voted to reenact the ending to Karate Kid 2.  
  
I thought it'd be closer, kind of gratified people would rather see Karin singing "Glory of Love" than killed off. She might be a foul mouthed, amoral scumbag, but she's got that endearing Boppo the Clown quality, ya know? Knock her down and she bounces right back up.  
  
So, got a great response to this fic, and in light of polls, I'd like to do some sequels with Karin. Skyrim's a big damn game, lot's of places I could drop her. I started a thread if you have ideas for future "adventures" you'd like to see Karin in, or if you have feedback, etc. You can also leave comments on the story or my profile over on hentaifoundry. Link below:  
**  
[http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/topic/65522-a-lust-for-poison-an-assassins-tale-skyrim-fee...](http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/topic/65522-a-lust-for-poison-an-assassins-tale-skyrim-feedback-and-ideas/)**  
  
Well, hope you enjoyed. I don't condone anything in this story except consensual lesbian sex with creepy girls, gratuitous swearing and torturing mooks. If you've got a quest, idea, or character pairing go ahead and run it by me and I'll see if I can't work something up.  
  
Next chapter: None on this one, but more Karin stories coming._


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